Bullet L
by scopica
Summary: Just when Luigi thought he could get the perfect night's sleep after rescuing everyone in portraits a third time, a certain plan will have him go through not just a mansion, but an entirely new world.
1. Gap Nap

"Byyyeee! Bye bye!" Luigi was at the back of the bus, waving goodbye to a white-haired professor and a gooey counterpart of Luigi. He kept waving until they were out of sight. He turned back to sit on the seat. He slid to the window seat and yawned. Just as he was about to doze off, a ghost dog, being Polterpup, suddenly appeared, catching Luigi by surprise. "Ah! Polterpup!" He then breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, phew, hahaha, good doggy!" He scratched Polterpup's head, which got the dog panting. Polterpup licked Luigi's face. "You did good too, Polterpup." Luigi laughed. The dog then rested his head on Luigi's lap and fell asleep. Luigi looked out onto the horizon from the window of the bus. "I did it..." He yawned and then was out like a light.

Mario and Peach turned round to the back of the bus to find the green hero sleeping.

"Should we wake him up?" Peach asked.

"No no." Mario denied. "I'm sure he's-a had a long night of busting ghosts and-a saving us." That is true. Ever since they arrived at The Last Resort, Mario, Peach, and the three Toads (Red, Blue & Yellow) had been trapped in a prison portrait by King Boo. With the help of Luigi and E. Gadd, they finally got free. During the entire night, Luigi had gotten zero sleep.

"Let's just get home as quickly as possible." Blue Toad said while juggling his baseball.

"Right."

Those were the last words that Luigi heard before he drifted off into the Dream World.

* * *

"...Master, are you absolutely sure about this?" A female figure was questioning another female figure behind a few trees. These figures looked human, but they... were not. One of them was in fact a nine-tailed kitsune with a white hat covering her kitsune ears. The other was another blonde female wearing an extremely poofy purple dress, and that blonde also had a mob cap. She wore an umbrella despite it not being raining.

"Ran, Ran, Ran..." The other female replied to the kitsune named Ran. "There's always a time and place for a little fun. Besides, I thought I'd have fun before that red-white miko declares an incident." She had a smug look.

"...So what will you do?"

"A little bit of border manipulating. Never hurt anyone." The female lied as she went into a 'gap' with eyes to plan her move.

* * *

"...AAAAAAAAH!" Peach's screams filled the air.

"Wah-huh?!" Luigi woke up from that scream. He looked at the front of the bus, well, first off, it was night time, which is weird, because it was sunrise when he first drifted off. The bus seemed to have crashed into the tree, but the engine was still on. Luigi went to the front and turned the engine off, but as he crawled back to his back seat, he noticed something peculiar.

"..Polterpup...?" No response. Polterpup was not there.

"...Toads...?" No response either.

"...Princess?" ...Silence.

"...Mario...?" And no answer from his bro. The bus was completely empty except for Luigi. He questioned to himself before opening the door, his eyes adjusting to the dark since he didn't have his trusty flashlight. "Hello...?"

"Hello." A tall blonde human woman was suddenly behind him.

"WAAAAAAAAGH!" Luigi screamed as he turned around, tripping up and landing on his behind. He scurried back and looked at the woman.

"My my, a jumpy one." She had a smug look again. "Don't worry, I'm not going to harm you.. as of now." She shifted her eyes as she added her last part.

"W-who are you...?" Luigi breathed.

"Ah, Yukari. Yukari Yakumo. A pleasure." She kept holding her umbrella.

"U-um.. introductions are fine and all, but I appear to be-"

"Lost? Confused? In search of friends?"

"Huh...?" Luigi raised an eyebrow. "You know the situation?"

"Of course. I even know where they went." She pulled out a paper fan and hid her face which had a smirk.

"Y-you do..?"

"Mhm." She nodded. "But you see, it may be very-"

"Please tell me!"

Yukari grinned, seeming as Luigi fell into her little fun trap.

Luigi paused and then halted. "Very what?"

"Dangerous." Yukari finished and then... a gap with eyes was right under Luigi. "I trust you'll find your friends soon. Have fun."

"AAAH!" Luigi started panicking and fell down the gap. "WAAAAAAAH!"

Just then, another female appeared from the bushes, but she was a child-like figure with a red dress, brown hair, and what appeared to be cat-like features except she had two tails instead of one. "Ran-sama! Where did the funny green man go?"

The kitsune turned to the cat. "He has taken Master's trap, Chen."

Yukari grinned. "Well, don't want to leave him completely helpless. If I give him the correct tools, he may even be strong enough to solve an incident. Maybe. Time to go to that newly built hotel and get him his stuff, yes?"

"Yes, master."

"Okaaaay!"

* * *

"..." Luigi slowly regained consciousness. Where was he? He looked up at the sky, thank god it was daytime. He stood up and looked around... an average looking forest. He looked around to see if anyone had shook (or in the last case, licked) him awake. But to no avail. He was all by himself, not even Polterpup could manage to save him. Just as he got up on his feet, he got bonked on the head with a flashlight. Wait, that was the flashlight he always carried around! He grabbed it and turned it on, and it still worked.

"Huh..." He looked up and saw a gap quickly close. That strange blonde girl gave him the flashlight. He checked to see if the Strobulb worked... but the Flashlight only had two features. On and off. He grabbed the flashlight and quickly got up on his feet again and then tried his classic trick.

"Mario?" Call for Mario.

Still no reply.

"Hello mister!" That was a voice.. Not Luigi's... Not Mario's... Not Yukari's... But when Luigi turned, he found a small child, also with blonde hair, and what appears to be a T-Pose. Luigi groaned to himself, who was this female to assert dominance?

"H-hello? W-who are you?" Luigi nervously pointed his flashlight. When he got a good luck, she had blonde hair, a black dress, and a little red bow. A more simplistic design compared to that gap hag he saw earlier.

"My name is Rumia!" She introduced herself with the most gleeful attitude.

Luigi breathed a HEAVY sigh of relief and calmed himself down on his nervous shaking.

"Can I ask you a ques-"

"Nuh-uh!" Rumia interrupted Luigi. "I gotta ask YOU a question first?"

"Huh?"

**"Can I eat you?"**

"...h-huh..?" Luigi started shaking.

"Pleeease? I'm so hungry!" She opened her mouth, showing tiny little fangs. Luigi screamed.

"YAAAAAGH!" He then booked it, carrying his flashlight with him and RUNNING. He looked back while running and saw Rumia still chasing him, while T-posing. He saw a house in the distance, he then picked up his speed, nearly tripping over everything. He burst through the door and quickly slammed it shut, locking it to oblivion. He took deep breaths. "Huff.. Huff.." He quickly turned off his flashlight as the house was already lit.

* * *

...Already lit? Luigi's eyes shrunk as he turned around and saw... yet ANOTHER blonde female. She had blue eyes and had a red band in her hair. She wore a light blue dress with long white sleeves and two pink ribbons, one going round her neck and another one around her waist.

"...You could have knocked too and I would've let you in."

"AAAH!" Luigi got scared again and turned on his flashlight toward the stranger.

"...Do I look like a ghost? Relax, I mean no harm if you mean no harm." She looked like she was conducting magic. "Although you are the first in a while that doesn't immediately flee from me."

"W-w-w-w-who are you?" Luigi still pointed, shaking his flashlight.

"Alice. Alice Margatroid." She introduced herself. Although not as gleeful and 'innocent' as Rumia. "If you wish, I could make you some tea."

"B-b-but don't you look a bit busy?"

"I'm not that busy, I have help." Alice slowly confirmed. "Plus you might want to rest up."

"B-but it isn't night time!" Luigi kept stuttering.

"It is?" Alice pondered and then Luigi got confused. He looked outside and sure enough, it was night time. "It was dawn when you barged in."

"Ah, s-sorry!" Luigi apologised. "I had to get away from this dominance-asserting girl!"

"Ah, the youkai? She's always like that. As long as you can fight back, she won't put up much of a fight at all."

"B-but I don't have anything! Only my flashlight!" Luigi indicated.

"Hm. Do you still want tea?" Alice tried to drive away the subject.

Luigi groaned and caved in. "Fine, sure."

Alice then stood up and went to the kitchen. Just then a few dolls flew in and took her place on where she was originally seated.

"WAUGH!" He pointed his flashlight at the dolls. "H-h-h-h-h-h-haunted dolls!"

Alice just simply smiled. "They're my two most known dolls. Shanghai and Hourai." She introduced the dolls as they waved. Luigi was chattering his teeth to oblivion. "Don't worry, they're also harmless unless in battle. I have plenty more than just two." She already finished the tea and made her way back to the table and set the teacup down for Luigi. Luigi sipped it rather quickly.

"Woah... this is really good, thanks Alice."

"Really?" She smiled again. "I'm glad."

Luigi was done in no time, probably because he was stressed from the dolls staring him down. "R-right... I should head out again... and face R-rumia.." Luigi shivered again.

"You could rest up here in the morning." Alice suggested. "Mister...?"

"Luigi, b-b-b-b-b-but there's only one bed..." Luigi pointed. "Unless you plan to share-"

"Sleep on the floor." Alice quickly finished.

"Wah... uh... okay... fine..." Luigi laid down on the floor. Gotta admit, not the most comfortable sleeping position... But once Alice threw him a spare pillow he was out like a light. Alice was... surprised on how quickly and deeply Luigi could fall asleep. "Goodnight... Luigi..."

* * *

Luigi in fact did not have a good night. He had a vision, or more rather, a nightmare.

Everyone being trapped in portraits again. There they were, stuck. Red Toad, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, Mario and Peach.

They were all scattered throughout this strange new world.

* * *

"Wagh-huh!" Luigi forced himself to wake up to the smell of more tea, blinded by the sunlight coming through the windows. He fixed his eyesight to find Shanghai and Hourai looming over him. "AAAH!" He quickly got up and breathed heavily. There he goes, another rude awakening.

"Good morning, Luigi. Sleep well?" There was Alice again.

"Thank you very much for the stay."

"It's nothing. I'm surprised you don't find me eerie with all my dolls about."

Speaking of the dolls, Shangai tapped Luigi on the shoulder. Luigi paid attention and Hourai was pointing towards the front exit.

"It seems they found something." Alice pondered.

"...Like what?"


	2. Rumia Rumble

When Luigi DID peek out of the front door and saw something in front of the door like a parcel, his face lit up. "Oh ho ho HO! Now we're TALKING!" Luigi brought the device into the house.

Alice looked at the device. It was red with a tube containing green goo in it. It also had other gizmos attached to it. Luigi attached it to his back and wore it like a backpack. "Ta-da!" He posed.

"...What... is that?" She questioned.

"The Poltergust G-00! I need to see if it still works for battle."

"Battle, huh...? I've got some dolls for you to try it out on."

"Sure... but won't that kill them?"

"It's only training, they won't die." Alice confirmed. "Shanghai, Hourai. It's training time." Everyone went outside.

* * *

"Hrm..." Luigi fiddled around with his flashlight as Shanghai and Hourai were just standing outside.

"Feel free to begin." Alice instructed.

Luigi aimed his flashlight and charged up something. He aimed at the dolls and released a powerful blast of light known as the Strobulb. "This is what I use to stun enemies before the real combat!"

"I see. It even stunned the dolls. Impressive." Alice nodded. "Then what?"

Luigi aimed his Poltergust and started vacuuming up the dolls, but not to the point where they would get in. "Suck 'em in! Or I can blow 'em away." Luigi then used the blow feature to push them back.

Alice sighed and then a couple of dozen dolls surrounded him. "More often than not, you'll be swarmed like this. What do you-"

She didn't even finish her sentence as Luigi gushed himself up to the air with the Poltergust, creating a Burst of air that knocked everyone back. Alice was... stunned to say the least. But sadly for Luigi, some of the dolls had shields.

That didn't matter for Luigi, as he fired a plunger "This is my Suction Shot." and whammed it onto the shield. He pulled back and SLAMMED the shield (even yanking it from the doll) to the other side of the ground, breaking it.

Luigi felt a tap behind his shoulder. When he turned around, no one was there. There was a doll always behind him. Alice slowly said, "How about this, then? Surely you can't get them no matter what?"

"..." Luigi just had the most genius idea. He looked at the green goo on his Poltergust. He then pushed a button and the goo leaked out, creating a green gooey version of Luigi while he himself went unconscious. "Ho ho!" The goo-Luigi exclaimed. He went behind Luigi and used the Strobulb on the doll. He then used the Poltergust to shoo it away from Luigi.

Alice... was... majorly shocked. "Who.. what... huh...?"

"Bye bye!" Goo-luigi bid them farewell as he went back into Luigi's Poltergust Tank. "Gooigi!" Luigi proudly announced.

"H-huh... I mean... it works... b-but...?"

"I pull him out when people only watch out for MY actions."

Luigi heard a rustle in the bushes. "Rumia must be near... I-I gotta face my fears!" Luigi ran off.

"Luigi, wait-!" Alice called out, but Luigi went forward. "Do you have any idea how ridiculously reckless you are?"

Luigi turned to Alice. "I gotta save my friends! They've been captured!"

"Captured? Friends?" Alice tilted her head.

"I'll tell you when I get back." Luigi wandered off back into what's now known as the Forest of Magic.

"..if you ever do..." Alice worridly looked at Luigi as she went back inside her house.

Luigi peeked out from behind a tree. "Hello...?" He aimed his flashlight around, finally having the comfort of Gooigi on his back (literally). He trudged slowly onto a wide open area... very suitable for a boss fight. He walked right to the middle of the "arena" and then heard a voice he was familiar with.

"Hello again, mister!" It was the childish-like Rumia again.

"Agh!" He turned his flashlight and was shaking, but not as much as when he was defenseless before.

"So you decided to let me eat you?" She smiled wildly. She swung her arms upwards as darkness burst out, covering the edges of the area so Luigi couldn't escape.

"N-n-n-n-o! I'm defending myself this time!" Luigi stood his ground at long last.

"Ah, that's boring! Stay still! This will be quick!" Rumia charged at him.

Luigi felt as if the boss fight had started. So instead of diving out of the way, he ran out of the way as Rumia bumped into a tree, getting dizzy for a bit but quickly regained consciousness. Luigi thought to himself, as that might be the winning scenario. Just to be sure, he waited until she charged at him again, and then flashed the Strobulb. Of course, she had a bit of darkness protecting her, so not even the Strobulb's brightness got through to her. Luigi got bumped by Rumia, (due to being slower because of the Strobulb) but thankfully she hadn't taken a bite of his skin yet.

"Aaah, stay still!" She charged at him again while T-posing. Luigi ran out of the way and she ran right smack into a tree. She got dizzy again.

Finally, Luigi approached and used the Strobulb. She was stunned and Luigi grabbed her dress via the Poltergust. He dragged Rumia along until he felt the energy to SLAM her across the ground. He repeated the slam then, and again. Three slams before Rumia broke free.

"Did you just attack me without using danmaku, mister?"

"D-Danmaku?" Luigi shivered. Luigi then FLINCHED as two lasers came from Rumia, forcing Luigi to stand still in front of her. "H-huh?! What is this?!"

"Danmaku!" Rumia repeated. She then fired what appeared to be bullets that got closer and closer to Luigi. He couldn't simply run or else he'd be hit by the lasers. He looked at his Poltergust and thought for a few seconds. He tried using the blow function to blow the bullets away. Surprisingly, believe it or not, it actually worked, and Rumia dodged out of the way of her own bullets. She covered herself with darkness.

"Hmm.. I don't think she's stupid enough to try the same trick twice..." He thought as Rumia kept shooting bullets while carefully dodging the ones Luigi brought back. An idea clicked into his head.

Holding the blow trigger, Luigi then brought out Gooigi into play, with the real Luigi fading into unconsciousness. "Ho ho!" Gooigi called out as he slipped behind Rumia. For some reason, Rumia did not notice Gooigi.

Gooigi then activated the blow function on his Poltergust. It blew some bullets back and hit Rumia on the back, leaving her darkness extinguished. Gooigi struck her with the Strobulb and then pulled. He slammed her down three times before letting go again. "Bye bye!" He called again before going back into Luigi's Poltergust.

"How the heck did you hit me? I had eyes on you!" Rumia ranted.

Luigi shrugged.

Rumia then took up and took flight.

"You can fly?!" Luigi panicked.

"All of us can! Welcome to Gensokyo!"

"G-Gensokyo?" Luigi paused.

During Luigi's train of thoughts, Rumia had hit him with a danmaku bullet. It stung and hurt like hell.

"Gah!" Luigi exhaled from the pain. He looked at the spot where he got injured. Bloody and bruised. Great. He was gonna have to finish this before he would die. And so he did. He aimed at Rumia and fired a plunger at her. It stuck to her feet.

"Ah, get it off!" She shook it but Luigi already grabbed the tip with his Poltergust. He pulled back and did the final three slams.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Rumia now was struggling to get out of the Poltergust.

"If you stopped T-posing, you might have an easier time gettin' out!"

"But I must! It's my character!" Luigi's Poltergust slightly rumbled as Rumia said her last words. It literally shot her out like a cannon and smacked her headfirst into a tree.

Luigi winced at Rumia's pain. He felt a little bad, but she was still breathing, just unconscious. Luigi just realised he beat the first 'boss fight' of this adventure. "Oh yeah!" He cheered in victory.

He turned back to go back to Alice's house. As he was humming the victory theme from Dark Moon, his thoughts quickly stopped as he turned to a tree. He saw... a painting. And someone in the painting, being petrified. When Luigi saw who it was, his heart and jaw dropped. "Oh no... Oh nononononononono!" He ran to the painting, which contained Professor E. Gadd, being stuck. Within the rush of deja vu, Luigi fidgeted with his flashlight. He then turned on the Dark Light and freed the professor.

SLAM. He fell hard on the ground. "Mmrgh..." He struggled to get up. He was getting old after all. Luigi offered to help him up, but Gadd refused. "No, no... my pride hurts..." He slowly and crookedly got up on his feet. "Who's there... anyway?" He adjusted his glasses as he looked up at Luigi. In an instant, his frown turned into a big wide smile. "Luigi!" He called out.

"Hey! Professor! It's been a while!"

"Yeah, a whole hour... You are precisely the last person I'd meet twice in a row. What a coincidence!"

"I-"

"Now isn't the time for questions or thoughts!" E. Gadd interrupted. "What matters is, we gotta get back to the hotel! C'mon, Luigi! Get me out of here now!"

"N-n-n-n-n-no!" Luigi refused. "M-m-m-m-m-Mario!" He tried to explain.

"All of your friends have been captured again you say? Including Mario?" E. Gadd sighed. "This is the fourth time..." "Okay, clearly you survived this long... Do you have any shelters?" He looked up at Luigi.

"Hmm..." Luigi pondered... Not really... Alice let him stay one night... But it might be worth another shot. "Okay... Over here!" Luigi beckoned as he turned back to Alice's house. As he turned, E. Gadd noticed one thing.

"Is that the Poltergust G-00? But it was at the hotel an hour ago!"

"Same story as how YOU got here! There's this blonde lady named Yukari that transported everyone here! I think... She definitely transported me here."

"Ah, so not King Boo? Good."

"Y-yeah." Luigi immediately shivered upon hearing his enemy's name. He also shivered because... it started raining. "Huh... It's raining."

"Hurry up, Luigi!" The professor intimidated him as if he wasn't going fast enough. During his run, Luigi picked up a purple umbrella. Cool. Purple isn't that fashionable for Luigi thanks to a certain rival of his, but it'll make do. He handed over the umbrella to E. Gadd and then ran faster to Alice's house.

Then they arrived. E. Gadd clearly out of breath from how old he is. Luigi was about to burst open the door but then he remembered Alice's first warning. He then.. knocked on the door. Lightly.

The door opened, revealing the blonde hair woman known as Alice. "Ah, Luigi, you learned to knock this time." She joked.

She then paused, and realised.

"...Luigi?"

"Yes, it's-a-me? Luigi?" Luigi shrugged.

"Wow, you're still alive. I'm impressed." Alice said with no change in her facial expression, she then looked further down to see the professor. "Um, who...?"

"Ah, that's Professor Elvin Gadd, my mentor." Luigi added.

"Residential genius!" E. Gadd praised himself. Luigi just raised an eyebrow. There was a thunderous echo that made Luigi jump out of his skin a bit.

Alice just realised how soaking they both were. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Come on in." She directed them with her hand and then saw E. Gadd holding the umbrella.

"Uhm, that umbrella..." Alice knows something.

"Yes?" Luigi and E. Gadd just looked at her.

"Never mind. It looks good."

Luigi just awkwardly shuffled indoors. "Purple isn't my strong suit."

"Why?" Alice tilted her head slightly.

"You wouldn't get it."

After the professor and plumber made their way in, Alice softly closed the door to her house.

* * *

**The first of MANY boss fights is done. Rumia may seem easy, but she's only the first boss. Be prepared for much, much more as Luigi embarks on an odyssey in the sunshine, maybe to defeat approximately 64 bosses in the galaxy? Who knows, but this task is far danger than Luigi's average 3D world.**


	3. Jumpscares, Scientists & Salty Immortals

After E. Gadd went back to the room, the interrogation began with Luigi asking the questions.

"Do you know what happened?"

"No, it was just a sudden portal with eyes and then boom, I'm here."

Luigi was puzzled at the professor's answer. Why would that gap hag known as Yukari do such a thing to get EVERYONE out here?

Alice pondered. "Yukari may want to start another incident. I suggest you, Luigi, to find Reimu."

"Reimu?" Luigi questioned again.

"The Shrine Maiden. I think her shrine is on the east side of Gensokyo?"

"What IS Gensokyo?" Luigi asked which made Alice think he's daft.

"Um, Gensokyo is the world you live in, are you an outsider or something?"

"Yeah."

"Go figure." She sighed. "Yukari brought you in without Reimu knowing. Regardless, you-" Alice noticed Luigi was clenching his stomach. "What's wrong?"

"Ah..." Luigi looked down and then remembered... "I got hit with danmaku..."

"How are you not dead?!" Alice was worried. "I told you it would be reckless! Ugh..." She sighed once more. "Fine. Go find Eirin."

"Eirin?" Luigi was just left more confused.

"You'll know soon enough. Find Eientei in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost."

"Bamboo Forest?"

"Bamboo Forest." Alice confirmed.

"...of the lost?"

"Of the lost." She repeated.

"Are you gonna come with me?"

"I can't."

"...ti uccido." Luigi cursed under his breath. (TL: I'll kill you.)

Just as he finally was about to head out to the Bamboo Forest, E. Gadd pitched in. "Ah, Luigi, you're going? How will you communicate with us, unless you are planning to go back and forward?"

Luigi pondered. Good Question...

"Ah, you're struggling. Thankfully, I got just the method. C'mon, outside." E. Gadd beckoned while opening the door for everyone as they all walked out.

* * *

"Huh?" Luigi looked at a device in the professor's hand. He then remembered it during his Last Resort adventure. "Oh, the portable lab?"

"Correctamundo!" E. Gadd pointed at him and then set it down. He pushed a button on top of the cone-shaped device. Alice stepped forward curiously, but Luigi stopped her with a hand. Luigi experienced the hand-stopping before, so he was just helping Alice at this point. The cone device exploded into a full-fledged lab, taking the shape of the professor's own head. Typical, egotistical Gadd. Alice was impressed.

"Did you borrow this from the kappa?"

E. Gadd and Luigi both turned to Alice. "Kappa?"

"Never mind." She shook her head. "So, what's your communication solution?"

"Come on in." E. Gadd opened the door and Luigi followed. Alice still took quite a moment to process what she just saw, but she entered behind Luigi.

* * *

The lab was packed with technological knowhow and doodads.

"You don't cater much to those behind the times, do you?" Alice looked around.

"I like my privacy." E. Gadd stated, adjusting his spinny chair and sitting on it.

Luigi grinned from ear to ear. "Was that a Shrek reference?"

E. Gadd fiddled around with some of the drawers and cabinets, hoping to find his communication devices. "So, Alice." He started, ignoring Luigi. "What's in Eientei anyway?"

"A princess."

Luigi froze upon that statement. "A princess...?"

"Yes. The princess is in the deepest part of the biggest forest."

"Another Shrek reference!"

"...and that's where Eientei is." Alice also ignored Luigi.

"Ah, found the devices!" E. Gadd pulled out three devices. He kept one for himself, passed one to Alice and tossed one to Luigi. Luigi caught it and looked at it. It was a big screen with a few joysticks and buttons on the sides. There were a few buttons on the bottom too.

"I present, the Wii Boo! It's an ultimate technique that allows a gamepad to connect to a big TV so you can play both at once! But I modified this one to be a communication device. Just wait until I finish advertising and marketing! The sales will be MASSIVE! Heh heh heh!" He stated proudly.

Luigi looked at the Wii Boo gamepad before stuffing it in his infinite pocket space.

E. Gadd continued. "I also gave one to Alice so she can also communicate." He pointed at Alice's gamepad. Just push this button here to call him."

Alice pushed a button. Luigi's gamepad started vibrating with a familiar tune to a certain mansion he first visited. With haste, he pulled out the Wii Boo and answered the call, looking at the gamepad. There, he could see Alice's mugshot, and she waved at the gamepad. The gamepad actually caught her movement as the video showed Alice waving. Luigi waved back, which showed on her end too. They both smiled.

"I hope you don't mind my lab being so close to your house." E. Gadd apologised.

"Oh no no no, it's fine. Gensokyo IS a dangerous place, and I doubt Luigi would want to travel to your lab and then my house from such distances if you parked somewhere else." Alice reassured E. Gadd.

"You sure?"

"Sure."

"Alright, Luigi." Alice turned to Luigi. "Go find Eientei to heal that danmaku wound."

"Will do!" Luigi sent them off with a smile as he exited the lab.

* * *

Great. Now he was all alone again. During his exiting of E. Gadd's lab, he brought the purple umbrella with him. Why not? E. Gadd wasn't gonna move from his lab ever again. He probably has potato chips and is completely decked out in the snack department in there. Soon enough, the house and the lab left his sight as he went to go find the Bamboo forest. Just then, he felt his gamepad ring. He fumbled around a bit before pulling out the Wii Boo. "Yello?"

On the screen was E. Gadd. "Testing, testing, one two! This is E. Gadd, coming at you live from.. my lab! Hah hah!" He chuckled. "How's the signal, Luigi?"

"Crystal clear." Luigi confirmed.

"Ah, good. I built the Wii Boo with signal and communication first in mind! Looks like I won't lose your signal this time. Anyway, take a look at the buttons at the bottom of your gamepad."

Luigi did what the professor told him. Sure enough, there were only two buttons. One was an E. Gadd icon and another was an Alice icon.

"Use those to call us at any time. Depending on the situation, we might be able to give you hints if you're stuck on a puzzle or boss fight!"

"Yeah, I know the boss fights." Luigi sighed. Rumia was only one of them.

"Relax, my boy! Just head to the forest without attracting too much attention!"

"Easy for you to say. Ciao." Luigi put the gamepad away as he brought out his flashlight and turned it on.

Rumble... Rumble... Was that the Wii Boo again? Luigi felt it in his pocket, but it wasn't vibrating... He looked all around and then to the umbrella he was carrying. The umbrella was vibrating! Luigi dropped it and stepped back a bit. Just then, something came out of the umbrella!

**"BOO!"**

"WAAAAAUGH!" Luigi jumped and fell on his behind when a girl in a blue dress came flying out and jumpscaring him.

"Yes! I got you! Best reaction yet!"

After Luigi recovered from his initial shock, he quickly got up on his feet, grabbing his flashlight and turning it on, shaking it at the blue-haired female. She had a turquoise eye and a red eye. Aside from that, no other defining features.

"You have been spooked by the lovely Kogasa Tatara! That's what you get for picking up my umbrella!"

"Y-y-y-y-your umbrella? He shivered and looked up at the umbrella. It suddenly had a tongue and one eye, like many boss battles of a certain pink puffball franchise. "Ah! D-don't eat me!" Luigi cowered, despite being equipped with a mighty suction device.

"Oh, I don't eat people, yuck!" Kogasa sighed. "Leave that to the other youkai! I just eat their spirit if I don't get some good scares in."

"You WHAT?!"

"But I scared you!" Kogasa ignored Luigi's mass panic. "And that's all that matters! I'll be departing, bye...!" She lowered her tone on that last word as she skipped off. That low tone... did she not really want to say goodbye?

Luigi just scratched his head. Before he could walk into a nearby bamboo forest, his gamepad rang. He pulled out the Wii Boo and came face-to-face with... Alice. "Hey, Luigi."

"Hi Alice..." Luigi looked pretty shaken up.

"You look pretty shaken up." Alice repeated the text.

"Some blue girl came outta my purple umbrella."

"Ah, I knew that... but it was better for you to find out yourself."

"..." Luigi stayed silent.

"Anyway, judging by your screen, you're near the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Be careful not to get-"

"-Lost?" Luigi finished the sentence.

"Correct. See you."

"Ciao." Luigi put the Wii Boo gamepad away and whipped out his flashlight, entering the forest.

Bamboo. Bamboo everywhere. Luigi was already going crazy. He was seeing ant-size fairies, and humans wearing rabbit ears. Luigi was going insane as he ran deeper into the woods.

So he was running

and running

and running

and running

and then he stopped.

...The forest lived up to it's name. Luigi was lost. "Mario?!" He called out.

And then he remembered his horrible dream. Mario captured in a painting. He feared that dream may be a reality, as earlier he saw the professor inside a painting too. "No... no... How did they get captured... I swiftly defeated King Boo..." Luigi's breathing got heavier and heavier until he heard a voice.

"The moon tonight is beautiful."

A mature woman's voice echoed in his eardrums. ANOTHER woman. He turned to see a dazzling white-hair female with almost seemingly infinite hair. She was wearing overalls just like Luigi! Except her overalls (pants? Suspenders?) were red.

Luigi kept his flashlight on the stranger. "U-um..."

"Are you lost?" She asked coldly.

"N-no..." He lied. He didn't want to make her life any harder. Seems like she was already going through a LOT.

"Wow, you wonder in AND are dishonest. That's a first." Unfortunately for Luigi, this woman was keen on her senses. "Name's Fujiwara no Mokou. Mokou for short. You are?"

"...L-Luigi..." He told the truth this time.

"Luigi, huh. You don't see many males around. Regardless, I live in this forest and I can guide you out."

"U-uhm... I was told to find this place called Ei-"

Luigi didn't even finish his desired location. Mokou grumbled very loudly and then her tone went from cold to BITTER. "What, you injured or something? Welcome to Gensokyo. It's life. Grow up."

_"W-where'd that tone come from..."_ Luigi thought to himself as he spoke up to Mokou. "I got hit with 'danmaku'!" He showed the area where he was hit. Still bloody and bruised.

Mokou looked at it. "I guess it is bad. Although you need to suck it up. I've been hit a thousand times and I'm still not dead, even if I want the sweet release of it."

Luigi just raised his eyebrow. "As you can see-"

"FINE I'll guide you there. But don't expect me to come inside with you." Mokou started walking. "Come on, move it."

Luigi was left to his own devices to follow Mokou. Poltergust in hand, he trudged along behind Mokou, which she kept a steady pace, keeping quiet.

Luigi decided to initiate a conversation. "Why don't you get a sweet release of death?"

The only other sounds in the forest other than Luigi's yapper was the sound of their footsteps.

"I'm immortal."

"Oh, wowie zowie! Must be cool."

"...and I can feel the pain of death, but I never actually death."

Luigi's eyes drooped. "Not so cool."

"And I get bored easily. You are the first exciting thing I've seen in a long time. Perfect Possession was fine, but then it just sorta stopped. With your clumsiness, you might be in Gensokyo forever."

Forever, she says. Luigi did not want to be in a world where 99% of these characters are female. Sure, anyone would kill for that. But in this world, it is quite literal to get killed.

Luigi's train of thoughts went on a little too long. He heard Mokou calling him. "Oi, Luigi. We're here." Luigi looked up at the building "Wah-huh?" It was quite giant to say the least.

"Welcome to Eientei, a giant hospital mansion. Usually for the god damn NEET princess."

Luigi did not hear any of that except for one word.

"...mansion?"

"Just go in." Mokou seemed hasty. "And then I'll drag ya out of this bamboo forest."

"Alright, alright!" Luigi put his hands up in a defensive state. He put them down and walked towards the door. He reached the door and slowly opened it. He looked back at Mokou, who was scoffing while folding her arms. Right. Get healed quickly and then book it. Let's hope he finds Eirin. He slowly creaked the door open and peeked his head in. Reminded of his first mansion adventure, Luigi whipped out his flashlight and shone it into the unlit darkness.

"Hello?"


	4. Chapter (9)

Luigi was shaking with his flashlight. Nervous? Very. He was entering yet another mansion to find a medical lady, most probably. "Uhuuuuhuuh.." Luigi was quivering with his breath. He quickly dived in the mansion and waved his flashlight all around the dark corridors. "Hello?!" He veered left and right with his flashlight as he slowly kept walking down the seemingly endless corridor.

Swing, swing, to his left... Just more Japanese-mansion walls with various tree symbols.

Swing, swing, to his right. More of the same walls. Walls everywhere. Luigi was thankful he was Italian and not indeed in fact a Mexican.

Swing, swing, to his back. A pair of red eyes. Moving on.

...

He paused.

Red eyes?

"WAUGH!" He whipped his flashlight to the now lit figure. Red eyes, very long purple hair, and what most resembled a schoolgirl outfit... but Luigi took in the most important factor he found... Bunny ears. Full-fledged bunny ears. Luigi just eyed the figure below.

"Can I... help you? Or are you just here to intrude?"

Luigi was just baffled by a rabbit of all things.

"My name's Reisen. I'm a moon rabbit. Now, like I said, can I help you?"

"Hmm." Luigi thought. "You got a light switch in here? I needed to find Eirin."

Within a click, the lights came on. It was rather dim, giving Luigi a cozy feeling if anything.

Reisen turned back to Luigi, an annoyed expression plastered on her face. "Why would you want to visit her?"

"Fine, fine, you want the truth? I got hit with danmaku. Bam. Boom. There. I said it."

"Oh.. I suppose that is bad, but why should I trust you and that strange device on your back?" She pointed to the Poltergust G-00.

"...I haven't busted out a move yet, have I?" Luigi shrugged. Reisen slowly figured it out.

"Ah. Right. Eirin's room is right this way." She pointed to the door on the left. There was a little hook in which Luigi should slide open.

"Thank you very much." He turned back to Reisen who was doing her duties in Eientei. "Ah." He slid open the door. "Pardon the intrus-"

He was met with a black-hair woman with a pink shirt and a red dress. Staring directly at him with murderous and malicious intent while still having a smug little grin on her face.

If Luigi could, he could change his overalls from blue to brown... because he was that terrified. Mix in some yellow in there and he's all good to go. There was silence between the two before the woman figure slightly stepped back. "Oh, I am sorry. I didn't expect someone else to be here. I just expected that immortal phoenix to appear and attempt to challenge me again."

"A-uh..." Luigi stuttered.

"Ah, right. My name. It's Kaguya. Moon princess. How did you get here?"

"...from said phoenix." Luigi shifted his eyes.

"If you're going back out, tell her we don't allow animals at our doorstep."

Luigi felt that insult go straight into his heart. Sure, he only knew Mokou for about a single day, but for Kaguya to treat her as an ANIMAL was just downright inhuman. Luigi, for many years had poured his heart into his diary about being overshadowed by his less-than-skinny brother, but he cared for Mario. He cared. Kaguya here, on the other hand... She shows no mercy for Mokou. Now Luigi could see the reasoning behind Mokou's hatred for Kaguya.

"N-no.. I need danmaku healing."

"Eeeeiriiiiin!" Kaguya called out.

"I'm still in this room." Another female called out. "Don't forget." The figure stood up. She had grey eyes, silver, braided hair, and red & blue clothing split straight down the middle.

"Ah, right, sorry."

"It's fine. It's fine." The figure known as Eirin stood up and walked over to Luigi. "Hmm... A male in Gensokyo. You don't get very much of those that aren't just the typical humans..."

"There are males in Gensokyo?" Luigi tilted his head. "Come again?"

"You won't see them much unless you've been to the Human Village-"

"I haven't."

"Then no, you won't see much unless you go there." Eirin shook her head dismissively. "Anyway, what's your medical problem?"

Luigi opened up his overalls and shirt, showing his bare stomach area. Bloody and bruised. "Danmaku wound."

"Huh. You'd normally be dead. Let's see." Eirin fumbled around all over the place. "Ah. Here we go." She pulled out an odd looking potion with even odder looking purple liquid inside. "Danmaku healer. Drink up." She popped the lid off the potion and held it over Luigi's mouth.

Luigi's giant nose catched a whiff of it and instantly he sneezed. "Wahchoo!" He looked at the purple potion. "Purple is the color of poison in my world... are you sure about this?"

"...I'm a liscensed drug maker." She slapped Luigi across the back of his head, which made him gasp in pain, and then she made Luigi down the potion. She snapped Luigi's jaw shut and made him swallow.

Luigi coughed a bit from the forced digestion. But he already felt butterflies in his stomach. He looked at his wound and it was already slowly healing.

"Wow. I thought half of my respiratory organs were destroyed, but it's working...!" He tucked his shirt and overalls back to their original position before looking at Eirin. "Thank you, Eirin...! How much for it, though...?"

"Oh, it's your first time as a customer, so it's on the house. Although, wait, you do might wanna get something." Eirin rushed to another room to get another medicine.

Kaguya turned to Luigi. "Your world? You're not from here?"

"No..."

"Ah, you might be part of the incident. What do you plan to do in Gensokyo since you're new?"

"I was tasked to go up to Reimu-"

"Stupid Shrine Maiden?"

"...Reimu... and ask her for help."

Kaguya shifted her eyes. "Although to be honest, this incident might wanna wait a while before being stopped. I've gotten treasures from other worlds because of it!"

Treasures from other worlds? Luigi tilted his eyebrow. Just how quick did Kaguya act? Then again, Luigi slept a whole night away in Alice's house, so she might have had plenty of time to get a treasure. "Can... I see one of them?"

"Afraid not, but you can if you complete my Five Impossible Requests-"

"I must decline." Luigi interrupted.

"Huh? Why? Isn't the fun in the journey-"

Luigi interrupted again. "IMPOSSIBLE requests."

"Ah. Right. Sorry, then no, you won't be able to see my treasures."

Luigi sighed from relief. It was probably just a spare Mushroom or Fire Flower.

Eirin came back just in time as she pulled out a cyan potion. "This one will only last for a day, but it'll allow you to do more damage to youkai. There are a lot out there." She passed the potion to Luigi.

"Ah." Luigi stuffed the potion into his infinite pocket space. "Thank you."

"Now then, I do believe you should be on your way." Eirin stated.

"Oh, yeah, thank you!" Luigi went out the door. He turned back to wave at them. Eirin and Kaguya waved back, although Luigi saw a slight smug grin on Kaguya's face when the door closed. "Huh..." He hummed something as he passed by Reisen who shot him a glare and exited Eientei. Mokou was folding her arms, leaning against the tree. She turned around when she heard the door close.

* * *

"Uhm..." Luigi hesitated. "Kaguya said th-"

"I don't want to hear it." She held her hand out. She then pointed to a certain direction. "Just go straight forward through that bamboo. Should take you directly to the Human Village." She then turned and walked away.

"But I-I-I-I-I..."

And she was gone. Brilliant. Luigi pulled out his Wii Boo and called E. Gadd.

Instantly, the professor's face was on the screen. "Ah, Luigi. You finally figured out how to call me! What's up? I don't have cameras here, that's why I asked."

"I got healed by this medical lady and I'm on my way to Human Village. Don't expect me to be back any time soon." Luigi affirmed.

"Aww, look at you, all grown up! Well, if you say so, I'll talk to you later."

"Ciao." Luigi put away the Wii Boo, pulled out his flashlight, and continued walking down the Bamboo Forest. He hummed for a while as he kept walking towards the Human Village. And walking...

and walking...

and walking...

Ah, finally, he saw daylight! He walked out of the forest and saw... a lake with a giant wooden platform. There was a mansion's silhouette he could see in the distance. Luigi shook his head, not wanting to enter the mansion as he stepped onto the wooden platform. "Ello ello ello?"

It was quiet. Naturally, Luigi brought out his Wii Boo and called Alice. Alice instantly was online. "Hey, Luigi."

"Hey, Alice. I think I'm at the Human Village?"

"Where are you right now? Describe it."

"Um... giant lake, giant wooden platform, mansion in the distance, it's cold..."

"You're at the Misty Lake?!" Alice sighed. "So, you somehow went AROUND the Human Village! That is shockingly talented! Whatever, if you just go towards the Youkai Mountain, you should get a better view."

"Ciao." Luigi put away his gamepad and then creaked the wooden platform. It was big... Big enough for another boss fight.

As if on cue... "Hey, you! Silly mustache guy!"

"Eep!" Luigi whipped out his flashlight towards the figure. A small fairy-like creature with icicle wings. Blue hair and blue dress. Luigi pointed at himself. "W-who? Me?"

"Yeah, you, you stepped on my territory!"

"Well I sunk your Battleship!" Luigi retorted back at the ice figure.

"Nuh-uh you didn't!" The ice figure pointed at Luigi. "Now you're gonna have to duel me, Cirno, the absolute strongest in the land! If you do that, you can pass through, but that's not gonna happen!"

"..." Luigi's face just stiffened. "Strongest...?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna go BAM on you!" Cirno imitated a hammer slam. Luigi shivered. Not because Cirno was trying to be scary, but because he was cold. This fairy was in an ice lake as if it was nothing. An ice fairy.

"Are you IGNORING me?! Fight me RIGHT now! Then I'll prove I'm still the strongest!" She summoned a few giant icicle crystals around the platform, preventing anyone from leaving. She pulled out an ice hammer and slammed it towards Luigi.

"Wah-huh-AH!" Luigi thankfully had time to react and dodged out of the way. Cirno came to a complete stop before she reached a crystal. She turned back towards Luigi and aimed her hand.

Icicles came out of nowhere and went straight for Luigi. He had time to run out of the way, thank goodness. Only then did he aim his flashlight at Cirno.

Cirno huffed. "You're still standing? Here comes the boom!" Icicles came out and started to home in on Luigi.

"Wuh oh...!" Luigi panicked and had to use his Poltergust to vacuum one half of them up while carefully dodging the other half. Since they were homing, a lot hit Luigi.

Cirno laughed as Luigi struggled to get up. However, Cirno laughed too much. Luigi charged up his Strobulb and went loose.

"Gah-! So blinding!" Cirno covered her eyes. But she was too late. Luigi was already pulling her dress with the Poltergust. As soon as he had enough power, he slammed Cirno across the stage.

But Luigi wasn't expecting Cirno to land on her feet from the slam. "Nailed the landing! My landings are crystal clear! Ha ha! Get it! Cuz there's crystals around?" She laughed from her own joke. Luigi switched on a lightbulb and made a note to himself.

"Huh." Luigi BARELY dodged another hammer slam. "AGH jeez!" Luigi screamed as he went back to vacuuming more crystals that were heading his path.

"Ahahahaha!" Cirno did an evil laugh. "If I keep firing crystals, you'll never stun me again!"

But Gooigi was already sneaking behind Cirno while Luigi did all the work. Gooigi flashed his light and stunned Cirno. "What the-? AAAH!" Cirno screamed as she was dragged along by Gooigi's Poltergust. Gooigi had a plan. He dragged and dragged until he was near a crystal. Then he slammed Cirno into it, breaking the crystal and therefore doing damage to Cirno from the impact.

"Ow..." Cirno rubbed her head as Gooigi retracted into Luigi's Poltergust. "You...!" She pointed. "You cheated! Now I'm mad!"

"...You act like a 9 year old."

"I'M NOT A ⑨!"

"A what? I didn't get that last part..."

Cirno activated some sort of Spell Card. Luigi felt his stomach churn. His 'spider sense' if you will. He quickly activated his Burst to jump over a line of Perfect Freeze.

"Woah, impressive!"

"Thank you." Luigi walked up to Cirno again. "But I got somethin' else!" He activated his Strobulb again.

"Ah-hey!" Cirno was already being dragged by Luigi. He slammed Cirno into another crystal. From the look of Cirno's weary face, one more crystal slam should finish her off.

Cirno was fuming. "That's it! No more going around the edge! I'm not budgin' either!" She folded her arms as she stood in the middle of the arena, activating an ice shield and constantly shooting crystals. Gooigi came out and vacuumed them all up while Luigi looked around on what could break the shield.

...Instead of bringing Cirno to a crystal...

He should bring a crystal to her! He fired a Suction Shot at the crystal and dragged it along. When he was close, he slammed the crystal into the shield. It shattered! While Cirno was in complete shock, he flashed the Strobulb, dragged Cirno along to a crystal, and did a final slam.

While Cirno was stuck in his Poltergust (aka a defeat animation) she folded her arms. "Eye'm still the strongest..."

"Well, you thought wrong! Luigi is number one now!"

He fired his Polergust and Cirno went flying headfirst into a wooden pole of the arena. Luigi shuddered from that impact but the boss had to be completed.

"Oh yeah!" He and Gooigi celebrated. Luigi turned and set his sights on a giant mountain.

Youkai Mountain. But why did Alice truly want him to go there aside from a 'better view'?

"...There's Youkai Mountain. A challenge to see if you're worthy of staying in Gensokyo. At least that's what I always viewed it as."

That voice was not Luigi's.


	5. Challenging Climb

Luigi shivered and winced at the exact same time.

A voice right behind him as he was about to climb a spooky mountain? He couldn't NOT get chills. But he was also clenching his fist. He knew the voice and was not happy by it's-or her presence.

He turned to face a blonde woman in a poofy purple dress.

"Yukari." Luigi uttered her name.

"Ah, it seems I'm unwelcomed." Yukari pouted teasingly. "And I brought you to this world to save your friends, too. All my hard work and I get the cold shoulder.~"

"Where are my friends?!" Luigi almost shouted. "For REAL?!"

"Aaah, I can't tell you that at the moment." Yukari shifted her eyes, almost serious looking. "You know how unfun it is to have an adventure be too easy."

"And tell me, is this Youkai Mountain trek gonna be 'easy'? Because with your predicability, I'd say it's not." Luigi was not kind to Yukari at all.

"Wow-" She sputtered words out. "That is- that is just RUDE. And no, it's not easy. You're gonna have to use that strange vacuum device to help you. To be honest, I thought you would die at the first 'boss'. Who was it?" Yukari was just as mean.

"Rumia."

"You got off LUCKY." Yukari sighed. "Fine, yes, if you go up to the top of this mountain, you'll be deemed worthy to stay in Gensokyo. You'll also get a good view on where the Human Village is! Easy peasy, right?"

Luigi twitched his eye. "You literally just said it was NOT easy-"

Yukari interrupted. "In fact... you... may get lost." She giggled softly. "So, I'm gonna give you a companion of two choices!"

Poofs of smoke came in, and there was a kitsune-like female with a white-and-blue dress with yellow tails, and another child-like cat figure with two tails.

"Ran, is intelligent and can make being lost go extinct, and Chen's super fun to have around!" Yukari introduced them as if they were on sale.

Luigi finally snapped. First, he took a sharp breath of air, next, he slowly raised his finger to choose a companion. Yukari, to be frank, was shocked that Luigi opened his palm as if he were stopping traffic.

"I choose nobody."

"Huh? Why not?" Yukari was genuinely taken aback.

"I don't need your help. I don't WANT your help!" Luigi's eye was massively twitching as if he were gonna cry.

"Master, I-" Ran prepared herself for battle. Yukari stopped her with a hand.

"...Why not...?" Yukari seemed genuinely worried.

"So, as I crashed onto the ground..." Luigi started speaking as if he was narrating a story. "Thanks to YOUR gap, by the way - I realised a few things." He then started stating his stresses.

"I have no idea where I'm going." He began. "I rescue my old professor and he expects me to save the world. By myself! Not even Alice would come to help me! She only provides shelter and that's it! The entire reason why I'm going up this mountain in the first place is to find the Human Village so I can get Reimu to stop YOUR shenanigans!"

"MY shenanigans?" Yukari repeated. "You act as if that is my fault."

"Oh, yeah, it is... and because of you...?" Luigi started stating his reasons on why he was pissed.

"I'm tired.

I'm hungry.

THERE'S AN UMBRELLA GIRL WHO JUMPSCARED ME!" Luigi yelled his third reason, then he continued his rants.

"And clearly your little servants aren't gonna like it when I complain! So they'd be better off with you than me! I have Gooigi as my only friend and nothing's gonna change that because it's gonna be boss battle after boss battle!"

"S-"

"AND! When I'm done with this grand quest? What do I get? More friends? Nope! I'll be back home without ever making friends because that's just how it is! People love to fight here and I'm not cut out for that life! And, besides..."

Luigi brought his voice to a low raspy voice.

_"Mario's going to get all the credit anyway."_

"..."

Everyone stayed silent.

"Master..." Ran stepped forward.

"No... Leave him. We'll all leave him. He's angry right now. We'll be back for him later." Yukari gapped everyone and then herself away. Luigi hung his head low.

"The only one who ever did appreciate me on my ghostbusting adventures was Mario. At least if I get him back, it'll all be okay..."

He looked up at the mountain, craning his neck. "Why does it have to be so tall... Wait, Youkai Mountain...?"

Luigi pulled out his medicine that'll buff him up against youkai. He looked at the label first.

"Let's see... The first part of the wording looks scratched out... but it says 'Youkai Elixr'... It's like there was a first word before Youkai... Eh. Eirin probably made a mistake in spelling..."

Luigi drank the elixr. Approximately three sips of the elixr drained it entirely. "Wow. Talk about a tiny medicine."

He felt his body feel like flames. "Woah! That IS stronger! Hm... Not bad, Erin."

He pulled out his Poltergust.

Luigi stepped onto the rocky path of Youkai Mountain. "Alright, mountain. You and me." He stepped onto a rock and it slipped down to the bottom. Thankfully, Luigi was good at balancing on one shoe.

"Aye-aye-aye..." Everyone's favourite cowardly personality was back. He carefully teetered across. When a pebble fell down, he booked it. He ran past a forest and then into a wide open area.

He saw the tallest point of Youkai Mountain. "Bet I'll get a good view from there."

Luigi looked down to pull out his Wii Boo gamepad and brought it out. He then contacted Alice.

Alice came online. "Hey, Luigi. How can I help?"

Luigi was slightly irritated from his rant earlier. "Hey, Alice. I just wanna confirm something..."

"From the looks of your surroundings, you're at Youkai Mountain. Sweet. Go by a forest yet?"

"More like I ran cuz I got scared."

Alice turned away. Luigi could of sworn he heard her faintly laughing a bit. Damn son of a-

"Uh, yeah, the tallest point should be your goal."

"Alright. Thanks."

"Take care."

"Ciao."

Luigi put the gamepad away and was met with a katana just inches from his eye.

"...eh." is alll Luigi could say. He couldn't even scream. What... was Death doing in front of his face?

He slowly shifted his eyes to see who his predator was. And... another woman was in sight. A long white shirt, a black skirt with red flame designs, white hair, and a cute little red hat on top. She also had a shield. Luigi took notice of one of her most defining features.

Are those... wolf ears?

"You." The wolf-girl spoke. "Hold it right there."

Luigi was shaking all over. "Don't gouge my eye out please..."

The wolf examined him once again. "Humans aren't welcome on Youkai Mountain. But... judging by your giant nose... you're not exactly human, are you?"

Luigi smiled nervously.

The wolf girl slowly put down her katana. "I apologise for judging so quick." She closed her eyes as she said that. "My name is Momiji Inubashiri." She stated her name

Well, Luigi's not gonna remember that last name.

"U-uh... hi... Momiji... I'm Luigi and I'm travelling to the peak of Youkai Mountain..." He pointed.

"That's a long way away. Don't you want to rest a while?"

Luigi wasn't sure what Momiji's game was. Don't wolves usually go ham on human beings and eat them or something? If Luigi was asleep while resting -

"Are... you sure? You won't, like..."

Momiji shook her hands in a dismissive manner. "Do I look like I can fit you in my stomach? No! I'm quite a small woman for someone my age..." She laughed nervously. "Ha ha... It'd be disgusting too. Plus, you can't really miss out on relaxing near these waterfalls..."

When Luigi did look at his surroundings, there was a waterfall in the distance, calming his nerves and his anger from Yukari earlier.

Luigi subconsciously put down his Poltergust and sat down on the grass.

Momiji did the same, crossing her legs and sitting down. "So, Luigi, if you're not human, what are you?"

Luigi just sighed. "To be honest? I'm not sure myself. I don't even know what YOU are!"

"Tengu." She replied.

"Tengu... First there was youkai, then fairies, then tengu... Have I met a single human yet?" Luigi thought. "Oh yeah, I guess Alice would count..."

Momiji tilted her head. "Luigi?"

"Oh, no no!" He laughed. "I was just talking to myself!" Luigi sighed again.

Momiji changed the subject. "If you're going up to the top of the mountain, that means you'll probably reach the Moriya Shrine. And if you're going up the mountain, that means you'll probably be challenged to a race by... her."

"Her?" Luigi tilted his head. "Race?"

"You'll see when you get up there." Momiji shook her head.

Luigi went back to looking at the scenery. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, etcetera...

Perfect weather for a race?

Nah, he couldn't think of that right now. Because right now...

A bunch of young-looking girls came swarming out.

"Ah, the Youkai found you."

"What can I say?" Luigi shrugged. "I'm a danger magnet."

Momiji shifted her eyes. "You stay back. You're practically defenseless-"

"No I'm not!" Luigi retorted, slightly irritated. "I can fight too!" He whipped out the hose of the Poltergust and aimed it.

"I'd like you to prove it. Momiji put her katana aside."

"And by that you mean you don't wanna fight!" Luigi ran up to a youkai and stunned her with a Strobulb flash. He then dragged her dress and started pulling. He then slammed the youkai into other youkai, causing them to get flattened, causing a chain reaction.

Luigi vacuumed up a flattened youkai without even using the Strobulb. He slammed once more into other youkai.

Slam, slam and slam.

Eventually, all the youkai were dealt with at once as they started fleeing.

"I did it!" He gave Momiji a thumbs up and then patted her head... What?!

Momiji turned red "W-w-w-w... that feels nice but what are you doing?!"

"Thanks for being concerned about me." Luigi laughed.

He stopped patting but Momiji's face was still red and her wolf tail was swaying subconsciously.

"Uh, right-o!" Luigi clapped his hands once. "I better get going."

"Y-yeah... you should..." Momiji hung her head low. "See you around?"

"Can't promise that." Luigi joked and ran off, leaving Momiji behind.

Leaving her behind and climbing up, he could almost see the peak. To be honest, it felt like Luigi had been walking for hours and miles. He felt chilly. He was so high up that the air was getting colder.

"How are you not dead?" A voice spoke up.

"I have no idea!" Luigi responded. Then he looked up at the voice. "Eh?"

Luigi was met with a blinding camera flash. "Owie! Y-you can't use my own attacks against me!" Luigi faced the attacker.

Black short hair, white shirt, black skirt, and another cute little hat.

"You'd be great in my next scoop!" The girl spoke. "I can see the headlines! Giant nose human about to lose to a graceful tengu!"

"Hey, my nose ain't gia-"

The girl thought and then spoke again. "Human? How are you not kicked off the mountain yet?!"

"Maybe cuz they al thought I wasn't human thanks to my 'giant nose'..." Luigi shifted his eyes and muttered. He then spke loudly. "What do you mean about to lose, eh?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like!" She boasted. "You see, you got past all the youkai and tengu and such WITHOUT dying! That means you could be worthy enough to challenge me.. to a RACE!" She shouted.

"A-a race?" Luigi quivered. He wasn't exactly the fastest thing alive... Especially with that Poltergust on his back.

"Yeah! If you win, (which is VERY unlikely, mind you!) then you get to proceed. If you LOSE..."

Luigi gulped.

"Then I'll send you all the way back to the bottom! I will do it! Hah!"

Luigi saw the girl's ego slowly inflating like a balloon.

"And that will be the greatest legacy that Aya Shameimaru will ever have! Whoo! I'm pumped! This article will sell like hotcakes!"

Luigi's eye twitched. "It's a 'shame' that I'll win."

"Oh, you accept?!" She turned, eyes beaming. "It's settled! We do this at sunrise!"

Luigi turned to the background.

The sun, was in fact, rising.

"...oh crap."


	6. Day At The Races

"...Why am I doing this."

Luigi said to himself as he got to a starting line, with his Poltergust still on his back. He was at a SEVERE disadvantage against probably a very fast crow tengu.

Well, he wouldn't be able to climb the mountain any further if he declined. And he needed to go up the mountain to see where the Human Village was.

Come to think of it, the past was starting to make much more sense.

He's been Isekai'd into another world and is now racing against a girl with human features but calls herself a tengu and has crow wings-

Ah screw it, it does NOT make sense!

He looked at the spectator's seats - quite a few people showed up. Luigi didn't recognise most of them except for two.

"...Alice and Yukari?! Oh you gotta be kidding me!"

Alice softly smiled and waved while Yukari was bringing a bigger wave with a wider grin.

Luigi smiled at Alice but cut a death stare to Yukari.

Next to Yukari were Chen and Ran.

"Master, why are we here?" Ran questioned.

"Watching this human struggle to beat the fastest thing alive would be fun!" Yukari stated.

Ran then muttered. "At least we're not spectating in a bush..."

Aya smirked and looked at Luigi. "So, are you ready?"

Luigi looked like a serial murderer with his distressed eyes. "Do I look like I'm ready?!" He screamed out - in a whisper. He was about to talk to more people... when he heard his Wii Boo gamepad going off.

Luigi answered it. "Yello?"

In came Professor E. Gadd, whom Luigi hadn't seen in a bit. "Hey, Luigi! Looks like you're about to race! Sorry I can't see it in live action." E. Gadd's surroundings was that oh-so-familiar lab.

"I don't stand a chance!" Luigi admitted the truth.

"I know, I know." E. Gadd assured him. "And that's why you, the smart person you are, Luigi..."

"Yeah?" He eyed the gamepad curiously.

"...are going to have to cheat." E. Gadd smiled evilly.

Luigi felt like he could lose his breath.

"Don't worry! You aren't gonna fling her into a tree and knock her out! It won't be that brutal! Although we may have to resort to that..."

"So what's your plan?" Luigi seemed nervous.

"You got the mighty Poltergust G-00! Bet that Suction Shot can help slow Aya down. Also, the Strobulb! It could stun her, allowing you to get into the lead! And-"

"Okay... okay... Cheat to win!" Luigi interrupted. "Thanks..."

"Luigi, one more thing I wanna point out." E. Gadd stated.

"Huh?" Luigi was about to turn off the gamepad but kept his finger away from the end call button. "Yes?"

"When have you last slept?"

Luigi looked at his reflection on the light of the gamepad. Black circles under his eyes.

"...I haven't had a peaceful sleep since arriving in Gensokyo..." Luigi admitted.

"I don't care how energised you may be after this race - " E. Gadd began. "But PLEASE get some sleep tonight."

"Fine, fine... I'll look where the Human Village is... then I go back to Alice's house, and then I sleep there... and then I go back."

"Sounds like a plan. Alright, good luck."

"Ciao." Luigi put the gamepad away.

Luigi turned to face Aya, who was still in a bold pose. "So, are you ready to race, human?"

"No." He flat-out admitted it.

"Well, tough luck! No point in wimping out now! We've already got a live audience! Don't want to look like a coward in front of them, do you?" She teased.

Luigi groaned, rolled his eyes and finally made his way to the starting line.

A girl with brown hair and GMod-style error texture clothing came up. "I don't know why they made me the ref, but ON YOUR MARKS..."

Luigi gulped. Here goes. Speed. He. Is. Speed. Focus. He... can't really focus right now. The sun was up and he was sweating more than a gamer does on Geometry Dash.

"GET SET..."

Aya brimmed with confidence. There was no way a human could win against her! She almost felt a little bad. Almost.

Luigi nearly hyperventilated already. It's fine... just... massively cheat. That's all.

"GO!"

The startup was kind of a blur for Luigi. He heard muffled crowd cheering, his own footsteps, teary eyes, and the loudest sound was his own heartbeat. Luigi looked around his surroundings as he entered a mini-forest. His Last Resort adventure was in October, so the leaves were turning orange and falling at the same time. It was truly marvellous. Luigi could almost stop to admire the breathtaking scenery.

Aya wasn't even trying half her power. She was folding her arms, flying about the forest, taking in the scenery. "I could take a picture of you being defeated in this forest! The scenery would at least look nice!"

Luigi grumbled, rolled his eyes and smirked. "Oi, Aya!" Luigi shouted while running and aiming his Poltergust.

"Yeees? Gonna admit defeat this early on?" Aya boomed. "If you think I'm stupid enough to bonk my head against a tree, you're dead wrong!"

"Catch!" Luigi fired a plunger and it stuck right to her face.

Muffled screams of Aya were heard as Luigi dragged the plunger along and slammed her into the tree. And that was enough to knock her out. Luigi quickly ran past many forest critters. Most of which was using Gooigi as bait and using the Blow function on the Poltergust.

Aya caught up to Luigi just minutes later. "Do you mind, good sir?! You wanna be known as a CHEAT?!"

Luigi then proceeded to stun Aya in the eyes with his Strobulb. "I just wanna continue!" He ran forward while Aya was stunned.

Moments later, Luigi felt like his sweat could be VOMITED. He spat out as he kept running, his spit mixing in with sweat and it was flat out disgusting. Let's hope Alice had a shower.

There.

right there. That was the goal. The audience was roaring with confusion and excitement. Luigi being in first?! Impossible!

But Luigi gave himself one last push as he crawled on the ground and touched his hand on the finish line. Right as Aya turned the last corner and crossed the goal herself.

"I can't believe it!" The error-skirt gasped. "The human actually came in first!"

Everyone, including Yukari, was in shock.

But it didn't take long for them to start cheering.

"Luigi! Luigi! Luigi! Luigi! Luigi! Luigi! Luigi! Luigi!"

Luigi slowly opened one eye. He was still lying down on the track. He slowly got up on his feet and looked around. A pouting Aya with her arms folded and the crowd chanting and waving their arms in the air while chanting his name. Luigi hadn't felt this way in since, like, forever, actually. All the spotlight Luigi expected was directed at Mario mostly. Luigi weakly raised his fist into the air. "I did it...!"

Alice quickly ran up to Luigi. "Luigi!"

"MM!" Luigi quickly got into a defensive karate stance upon being suddenly approached but quickly eased up due to realising it was Alice.

Alice continued. "You did it! I don't know how you did it, but you actually did it!"

"I get to climb further up the mountain, I guess!" Luigi chuckled, rubbing a hand at the back of his head sheepishly.

Aya grumbled. "You were so lucky... this time." She flew off, huffing.

Luigi gulped. And chuckled. "I'm in danger."

* * *

It was now mid-day. Luigi watched everyone leave and go home.

He waved one last time to Alice. It had been approximately 2 hours since Aya took her sulk flight. Luigi was nervous. He looked at the spectator's seat. Yukari wasn't there.

Luigi grumbled and continued his way upwards.

He was actually in view of the shrine. Perfect. Luigi pulled out his Wii Boo and called Alice.

"Hey, Luigi. Alice here."

"Yeah, I can see that." Luigi replied.

"You're almost there, I think. Is that what you called me for?"

"Yeah, I see some sorta shrine I think."

"Yeah, you're almost there. Hang tight."

"Ciao." Luigi put his gamepad away.

Luigi made it onto a wide open platform. He assumed it was just for people to get their bearings before climbing one last flight of stairs.

"I knew you'd be here." Luigi recognised that voice.

He turned around, to meet with a familiar crow tengu. "If it isn't the green cheater! All the way up here because you couldn't handle being in a fair fight?"

"It was HEAVILY stacked!" Luigi shouted.

"So if you can't win against a race..." Aya landed and braced herself. "Then FIGHT me, coward!"

Luigi gawked. Another boss fight? If he fell off even once, it would be all the way back to the bottom...

Aya laughed and took flight again. Purple barriers surrounded the giant platform, preventing exit.

"The classic barriers are back..." Luigi muttered.

Aya flew to one side, scaring Luigi a bit. She fired a bunch of feathers. Luigi only raised an eyebrow, but then after being touched by a feather... yeah, it hurt as hell, just like danmaku. Luigi quickly took this as a lesson to quickly dodge between the feathers.

Aya flew to another side, using wind powers between movement to drop some boulders and rocks from the mountains to roll onto Luigi.

Luigi got frightened when a boulder landed on the ground. "Waaah!" He quickly contained his composure and used his Poltergust to hold a boulder.

When Aya flew to another side, Luigi pelted her in the face with a boulder. "BWAAAH-" Aya screamed and spat out a few rocks. "So you're playin' dirty, even for a fight..."

Aya's new attack was her swooping to ground level just outside the arena. She charged at Luigi. The latter, thankfully, remembered how to Burst so he jumped over Aya. Luigi vacuumed up another boulder and yeeted it at Aya while she was rising up again.

"You're peltin' me all over! Not fair!"

"You're the one firing FEATHERS at me!"

Aya tossed more feathers. Luigi squeezed in between more of them and vacuumed up one last boulder. He fired it at Aya.

"Grr... GRR!" Aya flew up, and using her wind manipulation powers, sent Luigi on a higher platform. The Moriya Shrine getting closer and closer.

Aya started flapping her crow wings. Luigi felt it and thought nothing of it.

..until he realised he was being pushed off.

"AAH!" Luigi kept running forward while dodging incoming bullets and feathers as well as boulders. Aya stopped. Thankfully, when there were also three convinient boulders waiting to be thrown. Luigi vacuumed up the first and whammed one into her face.

Aya flew down, firing feathers and diving towards Luigi. "Wah!" Luigi panicked and dived out, hitting his head on the stone mountain in the process. "Ouch..."

While complaining about his pain, he vacuumed another boulder and slammed her in the face with it.

Aya flew up one more time and prepared something, only to be met with a final boulder.

"Grrgh! Why are you so stubborn!" Aya waved her fists around.

"You're the one who picked a fight with me!" Luigi retorted.

Aya used her wind power to send Luigi higher up. He was now on level with the Moriya Shrine, and there was a sunset looming over Gensokyo. A beautiful scene for a final phase.

Aya flew in the background, in direct view of the sunset. She swooped down herself to charge at Luigi. Luigi finally got hit, losing a few heart points.

Luigi got his vacuum tugged on her skirt. The final blow was here. He dragged her along, intense 'ghost catching' music as Luigi was pulled all around against the struggle.

He finally got enough strength to slam her three times.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Aya was in her defeat animation. "Waitwaitwait-"

Luigi paused his vacuum inhaling to let Aya do her finishing animation.

She pulled out a camera and took a picture of Luigi. "You're perfect for my next scoop! Grown lanky human finally outlives crow teng-"

Luigi's Poltergust exploded her onto a nearby wall, hitting her head and knocking her out.

Luigi looked around, defeating his third boss fight.

He turned to the camera and did a few victory cheers. "Oh yeah, I did it!" He clenched his fist. He got off the platform and was now in front of the Moriya Shrine. Luigi looked at the edge of the mountain. Sure enough, Gensokyo was painted orange from the sunset. He could make out a few houses and a giant lake with... Luigi could see people from that distance? Luigi assumed... that was the Human Village.

"Huh... It's a long ways away... Time to travel the world without a virus!"

Luigi chuckled from his little joke that's impacting the real world and gripped his Poltergust to make his journey.


	7. Nostalgia Trip

**A/N: This is a filler chapter, so sorry if it's shorter than all the rest. I promise Chapter 8 will be more action-packed!**

* * *

Luigi carefully made his way down the viewing platform when he heard the Moriya Shrine doors open. "A-ah!" A green-hair lady peeked out the doors, showing a white-and-blue shrine maiden outfit. Luigi gulped a saliva of relief.

This was probably Reimu.

"H-hey... hi...?" Luigi awkwardly waved.

The green shrine maiden looked. "Ah! A visitor! And a human for once, how rare! My name's Sanae! Yours?"

Well, there goes the chances of her being Reimu.

"O-oh, me? I'mma Luigi."

"Well, care for a homestay? It's getting into sunset and soon will be night."

Luigi peeked into the Moriya Shrine.

Sanctums everywhere.

"...Maybe I'll hold off on that." Luigi shuddered about getting lost in that tiny little shrine. "Anyway, I would like to stay and-" Luigi turned around to meet a person with a frog hat. With eyes and everything. Luigi could only see blonde hair as he fell in terror. Thankfully not off the mountain.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Eep." Luigi winced. He was more concerned about the frog hat than the actual girl.

Sanae sighed. "Suwako, you didn't have to scare him!"

"Did I scare him?" Suwako looked down at the trembling Luigi.

"Eeeeeiiii..." Luigi made fear noises.

"Ugh, I can't with that guy!" Suwako rolled her eyes. "All I did was have a hat to his face! Nothing scary about that!" She stepped back and folded her arms. "Who's this broad, anyway?"

"Did you just call me a-?!" Luigi was mad.

"This is Luigi. He's a visitor of the shrine who somehow climbed the Youkai Mountain!" Sanae introduced Luigi.

"Hmm..." Suwako did a thinking emoji. "Did an annoying crow tengu bully you?" She teased, poking Luigi's nose, which aggrivated him a bit. "Then you wet your pants a little and only now has the stain vanished-"

"I beat the snot out of her." Luigi said out loud.

"You."

"What."

Suwako and Sanae said at the same time.

Luigi walked to the edge of the platform with dramatic music playing. He pointed at the monstrosity he created below him. Suwako and Sanae shivered violently.

There was Aya, dizzy and conked out from her recent battle with Luigi.

"Yikes.." Sanae managed to breathe out. "So, how did you beat her? Was it that strange vacuum on your back?"

Luigi looked at his Poltergust. "Well, yes, but actually no. I just used the Poltergust to pelt boulders at her until she dropped."

...Sanae looked at Luigi like he was a mass murderer.

"What? I was desperate!"

Suwako just went back to the front of the shrine and sat down on the steps. "Sit down, Luigi. We could talk for a while. It gets pretty lonely without much visitors making it this far."

Sanae also went and sat down on the shrine's steps.

"M-must I?" Luigi shivered

"It's an absolute must." Sanae's eyes went dark.

"A-aye aye!" Luigi saluted and sat down in the middle. Between two girls who could kill him at any moment. Luigi felt... stressed was the LIGHTEST way to put it.

"ANYWAY." Suwako coughed. "Why did you come up here in the first place?"

"I wanna find the human village." Luigi admitted. "I got lost so I went here for a view..."

Sanae was about to say 'are you that stupid' but held off against it. She then spoke. "Well, you better get going before night falls. It's kinda hard to see in the dark."

Luigi whipped out his flashlight.

"...Not for you, anyway." Sanae chuckled.

Luigi rubbed his eyes. "I'm kinda turning into a nocturnal if I say so myself... Bad for my health, as I have everything-phobia."

"Really? Why are you so scared? How much have you suffered through?"

Luigi remembered all the times his suffering had 'ended'...

_Crying tears of joy upon seeing his dizzy brother..._

_Hearing Mario say the words "That's my bro!"..._

_And everyone reuniting once more, with Mario saying "Way to go, bro!"..._

Luigi felt something. He put his gloves to his eyes and they came out damp.

"Tears...?" He mumbled to himself.

"Luigi?" Suwako and Sanae stared.

"I never even stopped to think how much I suffered." He looked at the night sky with his blurry and teary eyes. And now, come to think of it...

_"Can I eat you?"_

_"I'm the strongest!"_

_"Lanky human!"_

The taunting words of Rumia, Cirno and Aya came back to him. It was just another day of survival. That's all that mattered. Living to see another day and rescuing everyone once more.

Luigi got up on his feet.

"Luigi?" Sanae repeated herself. "What's the matter?"

"I have suffered, yeah, that's true." Luigi didn't look back at the two. "But I will suffer to save my friends. Even if I get scared at everything."

"LUIGI." Suwako suddenly yelled.

"AA-yes?" Luigi shivered.

"Oh, yeah, you are scared of everything." Suwako held in a laugh.

Luigi felt like he could punch this child-like figure into oblivion, but his human morales prevented him from doing such an act.

"Listen here, child-"

"I'm a goddess. One of the oldest." Suwako said with a smug face. Even the frog hat was emitting a smug aura.

Luigi's jaw hung open a bit. Of course she was a goddess. Nothing in Gensokyo made sense.

Luigi put his hand out. "Okay okay okay... I get it. I'm not stoppin' for tea or anything. I'll get lost in your shrine. I was only here for a view of Human Village."

"Ah. Right. You should get going then?"

"Sure can do." Luigi did a salute. "So long, friends! Yippie-kai-yay!" Luigi did a cringe-as-heck exit while shuffling and moonwalking.

"You think this is funny?" Sanae said to the exiting Luigi.

And Luigi's final words was a really big wheeze.

* * *

**Since this is a filler chapter, I'll answer all your reviews personally here!**

**Nan The Keyblade Master: Well, it's been over 6 parts since you last reviewed. Guess this is 'more of this'! Hope you're still enjoying it.**

**Havel the Hevel: If things keep going this way, Luigi may lose his mustache at this rate!**

**James Birdsong: Good that you think this is good!**

**VolcanicFlare: Oh jeepers, I just read an essay there. Yeah, I'm aware that the male population isn't extinct, but thanks for the reminder and extra tips!**

**Guest: To put it simply, he cheated. He activated 'Debug Mode'!**

**ChackMete: Bullet L at this point is just one giant meme mess. How many memes have you spotted?**


	8. Impossible Request

Luigi was walking down the steps of the Youkai Mountain. He knew where to go! Now to just get back to Alice's house and get some good sleep!

"Aren't you forgetting something?" A MILF-sounding voice resonated... Luigi looked behind him and saw a gap with eyes.

Yukari once again.

She peered out and stepped out her whole body, sitting on her gap.

Luigi snapped at Yukari last time, but to be truthful, he was fearing for his life. Imagine if he had to FIGHT Yukari...

"What are you implying I forgot?" Luigi asked, hiding his utter fear.

"Kaguya's treasure from your world! Are you curious about it?" Yukari held her palms to her chin as she smiled.

Luigi had completely forgotten about it, until Yukari said it... Luigi dismissed it as a simple Mushroom or Fire Flower... but it could be a lot worse. Like a Super Star that could grant her invincibility, or to use it's power for the lesser good. Or maybe even the Royal Stickers? Bowser went insane from wearing it, and Kaguya's a princess, so she could've gotten her hands on that... Or if she's into more girly things like hearts then she could've gotten her hands on the Chaos Hear-

Luigi shuddered from that last thought. No... He didn't want to remember THAT adventure.

"Weeeeelll?" Yukari cocked her head to the side. "Tell me."

"...A little curious, I admit." Luigi admitted. "But I t-"

"Go to it."

"W-"

"Go to it." Yukari repeated, interrupting Luigi frequently.

"No thanks." Luigi turned and walked away, humming the theme from Dark Moon. Yukari couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"You see... I would GAP YOU there..." Yukari started, sounding pissed. "But since you lashed out your anger on me earlier, I got a better plan!"

Luigi turned, annoyed. "What?!"

But Yukari wasn't there when Luigi turned.

"Have a nice fall!" Yukari joked and shoved Luigi straight off the mountain.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-!" Luigi's horrified yells filled the atmosphere.

* * *

...He woke up to face a lot of white. Silky white. "...Mmmgh... Is this hair? What kinda weird purgatory am I in...?" Luigi felt his head rest on something. "Wait, is this... what we call a lap pillow? Mama mia, we're going into anime stereotypes now? Is this world an anime series?" Luigi said something that's sure to trigger 99% of Touhou fans.

"Hey, I didn't let you rest your head on my lap for fanservice. If I let you lay on the ground, you would have died." An annoyed female voice spoke up. Ah. White hair, mature female voice, it was...

"Mokou...?" Luigi craned his head up to meet the white-hair female.

"Hmm. Yes. I'm Mokou." Mokou smiled. "Why aren't you cooped up in the Human Village?"

"I... got lost from your directions..." Luigi looked away from her in shame, and looked around. He was back in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost.

"Suppose that's my fault, then. I'm sorry." Mokou said in an apologising tone.

"No..." Luigi got up and dusted himself off. "I'm... I'm fine."

"Are you? Are you really?" Mokou sounded contradicting. Luigi gulped. He did just fall off the tallest mountain with no parachute... And by his past memories, he landed face-first into the ground. Luigi winced. And shivered. Again. He slowly pulled out his Wii Boo gamepad and turned on the mirror.

...His face was deformed, there were bruises and punctures everywhere, his face was scarred and almost purely crimson from how much blood he lost. He had cuts all over himself, making himself look like... an unidentifiable monster.

"Ah... AAAAH!" Luigi couldn't take it in.. _**"WAAAAAAAAGH! GA-AAAGH! BLEEGH!"**_ Luigi made incomprehensable horrified sounds. He could vomit fifty times over. What was his place?

He had to get out.

He had to get home.

He didn't want to be here.

_Please wake up._

This was a sadistic nightmare that made him feel everything the dream tells him to. But every time he wanted to wake up, he couldn't. This was his reality now.

"Luigi." Mokou said, trying to get to him.

**_"AH! AAAH!"_**

Danmaku that could kill him in one hit...

Young children that were old as goddesses themselves.

Sadistic gap hags that pushed him off the mountain.

_No more, please..._

Just get him back home... Back to Mario, so he could cry while laughing.

Mokou sighed, walking over to Luigi and shoving a liquid in his mouth while he was screaming. Luigi swallowed upon reflex but kept hauling out his screams until... he no longer felt pain.

Mokou picked up his dropped Wii Boo gamepad and showed Luigi's reflection. It was all better. All fixed. "I had to steal this from the damn NEET princess."

Luigi kept rapidly breathing, nearly hyperventilating. If anyone had brushed off Gensokyo as 'slightly strange' then they were lying. This was **TRAUMATISING** to the green coward.

"You'll be fine."

Luigi's breathing slowed down a little.

"I'm here for you."

He finally went back to normal breathing.

"We can take a walk."

Luigi nodded slowly.

* * *

The footsteps of the forest eased Luigi's mind. The moon piercing through the opening of the bamboo was enough to calm one's mind.

"Is this kind of torment normal in Gensokyo?" Luigi asked, speaking proper sentences and words this time.

Mokou had inner thoughts in her mind.

_"I don't want to try anymore."_

_"How much longer does this have to go on for?"_

"..." Mokou bit her lip. "Yes."

Luigi thought to himself. Oh gosh. No. He had to save everyone and rise to the challenge! And quickly!

They stepped into an open area of the forest.

"Aaah! N-no!" Luigi could almost cry again.

"What? What's wrong this time?" Mokou sighed. Luigi pointed and Mokou's eyes followed Luigi's finger to...

a portrait of a Toad.

"Ooough..." Luigi felt like he could vomit... of happiness. He finally found one of his friends from his bus trip home! But he was also in a portrait prison... Luigi walked up to the portrait.

"What? It's just a painting."

"My friend is STUCK inside there!" Luigi almost yelled at Mokou.

Luigi walked up closer and he saw a shadow loom over him. "Mokou, I care not for your practical... jokes..."

Luigi looked at the figure. A dress instead of pants. Black hair in check... Luigi recognised it.

"Kaguya." Luigi and Mokou stated at the same time.

"I see you have found my treasure from another world, Luigi! I'm impressed."

"You're KEEPING my friend?!" Luigi's eyes shrunk.

"You want it? Complete my impossible requests." Kaguya said calmly, but still had a smug aura around her. "Unless you'd like to fight this eternal moon princess, which I'm sure this creature has had enough of."

Luigi grumbled. That's twice that Kaguya referred to Mokou as not a human - but a miserable creature. He clenched his fists angrily. He aimed his flashlight at Kaguya.

"Give. Me back. My friend."

"Sorry, no can do. I guess it's another battle for our glorious rivalry!" Kaguya took off into the sky, flying around.

Mokou folded her arms. "Well, if you absolutely insist, I will have no hesitation in incinerating you!" She also flew up.

Luigi looked back at where Toad's painting was, and it was gone. Of course Kaguya was protecting it in the air. No way he could get it now...

E. Gadd chimed in via Wii Boo. "Hey, Luigi! I just wanted to check in on ya. You ARE going back to Alice's house to sleep, yes?"

Luigi nodded. "Yeah, but I got a problem." He showed the fight to E. Gadd by pointing the Wii Boo.

"Ah, you're in a boss fight. I can see by the white-hair female's patterns that they're gonna bring it to the ground!"

Luigi gulped. He did not want to get in the crossfire.

"Who's the enemy, by the way?" E. Gadd pondered.

"A black-hair female named Kaguya."

"Right. If the white-hair does bring Kaguya down, it's up to you to use that Poltergust to slam her down!"

"Got it!" Luigi left the Wii Boo on standby in case E. Gadd needed to drop in more hints. It was a 2-v-1 battle to save his first friend! Here goes!

* * *

_**Major Boss: Kaguya**_

Luigi yelped a bit when more purple barriers surrounded the wide open area of the forest. "Wuuugh!" He aimed his flashlight up at the two fighting. Kaguya and Mokou. Kaguya gracefully dodged Mokou's fireballs.

"WAAGH!" Luigi panicked and ran around, dodging the fireballs and staying away from the flames of the impacted ground. Not even Gooigi could survive that, he thought.

"Ha-" Luigi dodged a few rainbow balls from Kaguya that Mokou dodged. The moving field was stretched a bit thin, to say the least. Smaller fireballs rained down within the small moving area. Luigi aimed up and vacuumed those in with his Poltergust. Thankfully, it didn't break down. Kaguya's danmaku thankfully vanished, allowing more wiggle room. That wouldn't matter as Mokou started to yell.

"Take this! Haaaah!" Mokou delivered an axe kick to Kaguya, which plummeted her down to Luigi's level.

"Wuh-?" Kaguya took a moment to process it before she was stunned by Luigi's Strobulb. "Ah-!"

A version of the 'Ghost Catching' theme as Luigi tugged at a fleeing Kaguya. Luigi pulled back and slammed her three times. She then forcefully got out and laughed.

"Was that supposed to hurt? I like Mokou's challenge better than yours!" She flew up into the sky. She took zero damage.

E. Gadd chimed in the Wii Boo. "Luigi! I think it's safe to say your Poltergust slams aren't as powerful as this 'danmaku' thing! Try slamming Kaguya into that leftover fire!"

Luigi looked at the fire and nodded. Now it's time to get serious.

"Woogh!" Luigi dodged out of the way of a line of fire from Mokou. Great. The fire was patterend and also randomised. Luigi used the Burst to dodge Kaguya's danmaku which bounced around.

Kaguya was suddenly forced down by Mokou again. "Agh! Whatever! Do your worst, Luigi!"

Luigi stunned her with the Strobulb again and pulled back. He kept pulling until he was at the line of fire. Literally. He got enough energy to slam Kaguya into the fire.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Kaguya pulled out."Kh.. Impressive! You learned!" She shot her bullets at Mokou from ground level, and Mokou retaliated by slamming on the ground, causing a shockwave of fire.

"Aagh!" Luigi's sheer terror caused him to jump in fear and dodge the shockwave. He was now in the crossfire for Phase 2.

"Out of the way, Luigi!" Mokou summoned a flame tornado and charged at Kaguya. Luigi ran out of the way and Kaguya knocked Mokou back.

Kaguya fired more giant rainbows, which Luigi vacuumed up with his Poltergust. Luigi looked behind while vacuuming and saw that Mokou was charging up more fire attacks. "Aaah!"

He stopped vacuuming Kaguya's attacks and went to vacuum Mokou's fireballs so he wouldn't get hit. Kaguya was also charging. It was too much for one guy.

ONE guy.

Luigi pressed a button to summon Gooigi.

"Ho ho!" Gooigi went and vacuumed up Kaguya's rainbows and then charged a Strobulb attack! Kaguya was stunned!

While Kaguya was stunned, Luigi used the 'blow' function to eject fire onto the ground to slam Kaguya with.

Gooigi then tugged on a fleeing Kaguya, built up energy and did three slams within the line of fire.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Kaguya pulled herself out once more. She fired really fast danmaku. Luigi thankfully dodged. Gooigi dissipated and went back into Luigi's tank. Mokou wasn't so lucky and got hit, getting wounded all over.

"Looks like you're out of the fight, Mokou." Kaguya teased.

"Oh no!" Luigi turned.

"I'll be... haack.. fine... Luigi." Mokou was struggling. "Focus on beating Kaguya... I'll be up and running in a few minutes..."

Luigi turned back to Kaguya, utterly pissed.

"Well, I'm off. I already won. No chance you'll have against me." Kaguya started to float and fly off along with the Toad Painting.

Luigi shot a plunger at Kaguya and it snagged onto her dress. "Not until I get my friend." Luigi vacuumed the plunger and slammed Kaguya in a massive arc.

Kaguya pulled out after one slam. "Huh? You still want to fight? You're persistent... hhhhrrrrrAGH!" She finally snapped and punched a bamboo, shattering it in half. "FINE, let's go!"

Divine Treasure "Brilliant Dragon Bullet" - Lunatic

"...what." Luigi read that Spell Card name and shivered at the word 'lunatic'.

Kaguya fired lasers everywhere. Luigi practically screamed and weavered between the lasers, going into small gaps just to survive. She was crazy.

Absolutely crazy. And to think his adventure was just starting.

"You gotta cave in at some point!" Kaguya roared with laughter.

"Hnnng..." Luigi was just about to be hit with a laser when Mokou rised up again and punched the ground, causing a fountain of fire to spew at Kaguya, stunning her.

"What the-"

Luigi wasted NO time. He activated the Poltergust and pulled Kaguya along. There was still fire left from Mokou's slam. So he dragged along and did three final slams.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Kaguya was struggling in her defeat animation. She summoned a rainbow out of nowhere. "Look! A rainbow-"

The Poltergust vibrated and sent her flying into a distant bamboo tree, hitting her head and knocking her out. The Toad painting fell down from the sky and landed neatly and conviniently on the nearest bamboo tree from Luigi.

Luigi looked around nervously. Did he just beat his first major boss?

He tosses his cap high up in the air. "OH HO!"

and caught it.

"YEAH!"

_**Major Boss DEFEATED!**_

Mokou looked at Luigi. "Immortality. I survive everything even if I don't want to. Now then. I believe...?"

Luigi looked at the portrait of his trapped friend. "It's time. Oh, bravo, Mokou! Thank you for helping!"

Mokou smiled as Luigi walked up to the portrait. "Okay, okay..."

Luigi activated his Dark Light and the portrait slowly came to life. Out came a mushroom figure with red spots and a blue shirt. Red Toad, the first of the three Toads...

was saved.

"Wagh-" Red Toad plummeted onto the ground. "Aaagh, my head..." He rubbed his head. He had a traumatising experience just as much as Luigi. At least that's what Luigi thought. Luigi carefully leaned in to check on Red Toad's health. He was thankful there were no major injuries. "You good, Toad?" Luigi asked.

Red Toad came up and was instantly met with Luigi. "LUIGI! Thank GOODNESS! I was so scared!" Red Toad jumped up and hugged Luigi, and Luigi cradled Red Toad in his arms.

Luigi caught something in his eyes yet again. But instead of fighting it, he lets the tears flow. He hugged Red Toad back while closing his eyes.

_"I missed you too, pal..."_ Luigi cried.

* * *

_Two unknown figures were talking to each other._

_"...are you sure this will work?"_

_"It's a last resort. For real this time. As soon as I lose, I will have that thing disappear and then transport me AND that thing to this dimension."_

_"You're insane."_

_"I am dubbed insane.. You knew this from the start, didn't you?"_

_"O-of course! I know a lot! Hah hah..."_

_"Just as annoying as always... Now I have to wait..."_

* * *

**And there you have it. Arc 1 is finished! Normally I would answer reviews here, but since I did that last chapter since it was filler, I only have one review to answer!**

**VolcanicFlare: Woah, that was a fast reply. Are you sure you aren't stalking me? *boards up windows and doors* Regardless, yeah. People brush off most things in Gensokyo as 'slightly strange'. Gensokyo is actually a traumatising experience and not all sunshine and rainbows. And Luigi here is here to experience it! Lucky him! Thanks for reading!**

**And now, I must part. It's time to cater to Super Mario Sephira fans. We shall see you in the next arc! Take care!**


	9. Happy Settlings

Luigi wrapped up a converation with Red Toad. "...and then she said 'we don't allow animals on our doorstep'!"

Red Toad scratched his head. "I don't get it."

Luigi put hands out in motion. "It's funny because there was like a LITTER of bunnies in that mansion!"

Red Toad finally got it. He learned that Kaguya was a hypocrite. "Well, thankfully, I stole this jeweled branch from her!"

"Hahaha-" Luigi chuckled and then snapped. "WHAT?! That's one of the Impossible Requests!"

"You always loot a dead body."

Luigi couldn't believe what he was hearing from Red Toad. It just got morbid really quick. Wait, dead body... Luigi sighed. Phew. At least he knew one thing that Red Toad didn't, Kaguya was immortal.

Luigi and Red Toad finally arrived on a small blue-roofed house with a tower next to it. Next to that tower was a mechanical lab. "We're here, Red Toad. If you just wanna hop in there-"

E. Gadd exited the lab. "Oh, you finally made it back, Luigi! Did you win the fi-YOU FOUND A TOAD?!"

Red Toad waved and Luigi smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. Kaguya was holding him hostage. But luckily, I beat the snot out of her!" Luigi threw his fists forward excitedly.

E. Gadd pondered and then smiled. "If Red Toad would like to stay here with Alice and I..."

Red Toad immediately nodded. "Yes please. I'm not strong enough to be in Gensokyo!"

E. Gadd turned to Luigi. "And you, young boy, you should get sleep too. It's night out, after all, and you look like Death."

Luigi faintly nodded, and turned and knocked on Alice's door. He looked back at the professor and Red Toad to see they were going inside his lab. When he titled his head back, Alice was there at the door.

"Ah, come on in, Luigi."

"Okie-dokie!" Luigi put his flashlight away and entered the warm embrace of the house.

* * *

Luigi looked around. "Kinda warm in here... all cozy..." He then breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"I was about to hop into bed myself, but then I felt... kinda guilty..." Alice fidgeted her hands sheepishly.

"Guilty?" Luigi was about to slam onto the floor again to sleep, but then questioned Alice. It was kinda unusual (and admittingly cute) to see Alice all red-faced and embarrassed, acting all shy.

"So I went into the Human Village and got you... this." She revealed a secondary bed with green covers. "Just for you to get better sleep. I could not live with the guilt of having someone so frail sleep on the floor."

Luigi set his Poltergust G-00 on the floor and laid his back on the bed. "Ah hah.. this is comfortable!" He shuffled his feet. "Almost enough to make me-ZZZZZZZZZZZZ..." And he was out like a light.

Alice sighed and was about to head into her bed when she saw E. Gadd and Red Toad peeking in.

"You two could come in too..." Alice sighed.

When they did, they were all watching Luigi's happy sleeping.

"Luigi's eyes..." Alice began.

"Are you in love?" Red Toad interrupted.

Alice turned red and turned to the mushroom. "Hey! I'm not! It's not humanly possible to fall in love with a man you JUST met."

Red Toad lowered his voice so that Alice couldn't hear. "Tsundere."

E. Gadd continued Alice's initial conversation. "Luigi's eyes?"

Alice shamefully looked down on Luigi's sleeping body. "Those are the eyes of someone who's truly traumatised. I have a feeling he was on the verge of death a lot of times. He must have suffered... so much..." She hung her head low.

Red Toad looked at Luigi, too. "Do you plan to kill him as well?"

Alice lifted her head to look at Luigi. "Seeing him peacefully sleep like this, I don't want to."

E. Gadd softly chuckled. "It's not easy when you have a fear of everything. Poor Luigi must have been through a lot. I don't blame him, though. One giant mansion, five mansions in a valley and a hotel resort... and now an entire world. He may be an old man but he's still Mario's little brother."

Alice turned to E. Gadd. "I'll suggest for him to go to the Human Village tomorrow."

E. Gadd and Red Toad nodded as they went back to the lab.

Alice tucked herself in her own bed and turned out the light. Pitch blackness in Alice's house.

* * *

...

Nothing.

Luigi dreamed of nothing.

He was truly at peace. No nightmares to keep him awake.

* * *

...but he eventually did open one eye when the piercing rays of the sun hit his face. Luigi covered his eye with his glove.

"Good morning, Luigi." Alice softly greeted as she sipped her tea on the dining table.

"Morning, Alice..." Luigi got up. "Man, that was refreshing..." Luigi turned to look in a mirror and finger-gunned when he saw he was back in full health.

"Today..." Alice finished her tea. "You're going to the Human Village, with that weird mushroom figure. I figure it's about time we get Reimu hearing about this."

Luigi put his hands up as if he were surrendering. "Alright, alright! Reimu it is..." Luigi put on his Poltergust and flashlight.

And left the house without eating or drinking anything.

* * *

Luigi knocked on E. Gadd's lab to be met with Red Toad.

"Hey, Luigi! E. Gadd added me to your contacts on that Wii Boo and added directions to the village! We just have to go through the spooky woods-"

Luigi shivered.

"-and we'll be there in an instant."

"Alright, here goes-" Luigi was then interrupted...

by a certain scientist. "Luigi, I think I might need your help."

Luigi slid like a stone toward the lab.

* * *

Inside the lab, there was a giant machine with ten slots. It was an arch with a human-size portal unederneath.

E. Gadd began introducing the invention. "Okay, I made some invention that can get us back to our dimension!"

"So how do we activate it?"

E. Gadd lended out his hand. "Give me that jeweled branch."

"Sure." Luigi pulled it out. Then he realised. "Wait, since when did I have this in my pocket? Red Toad must've slipped it in. Oh, Mama-mia..."

Luigi pulled it out of his pockets and then it sorta levitated towards the first slot and slipped right in.

"Oh yeah!"

Luigi paused his victory, and then took it in.

"There's ten slots."

E. Gadd pointed his finger. "Then that means there's ten arcs! Or ten main bosses! Hop to it, Luigi!"

* * *

Aand door slam.

Red Toad was folding his arms, tapping his foot. "Ready?"

Luigi hesitantly put out his flashlight... "Here we go again..." Luigi was shaking his hand because he was nervous, Red Toad just casually trailed behind Luigi, smiling without a care in the world. Luigi then entered the Bamboo Forest of the Lost.

A left, a right, a center, another left, another center...

And he was met with Mokou again! What are the odds?!

Mokou turned her head. "Back again, Luigi?" She then smiled. "Good. I'm glad you survived."

Luigi sharply inhaled. "I'm gonna need to speak to Red Toad real quick. We have something to ask of you."

Mokou put her hands in her pockets. "Sure, go ahead. Not like I'm busy."

Luigi pulled Red Toad into a sectioned-off part of the forest. "What's with Alice and Mokou liking me all of a sudden..."

Red Toad gasped. "Dude. You know what this means?"

Luigi shivered. "Oh no..."

Red Toad nodded. "That's right. This unique story's title is slowly changing into 'MALE LUIGI READER X TOUHOU HAREM'!"

Luigi dragged Red Toad out of the section and met back with Mokou. "We're back! We made an agreement to go to the Human Village!"

Mokou tilted her head. "Didn't you get lost last time?"

The plumber stopped cold. "Eep-"

Mokou softly chuckled. "It's fine, I can guide you. Come on, follow me. It's the least I can do for you helping me beat Kaguya."

Luigi shrugged and walked behind Mokou.

He hesitantly tried to keep up due to Mokou's knowledge and brisk turns. "Ah-ah!" Luigi then gave Red Toad a piggyback ride since Red Toad was lagging behind.

Red Toad sighed from relief. "Phew. Thanks, Luigi."

Mokou turned her head as she kept walking. "You two have good chemestry."

Luigi chuckled. "We've been through a lot!"

The wind picked up within the dark forest as it looked like a storm was about to kick in. Mokou looked up. "Better hurry. It's straight ahead!"

"Thanks, Mokou!" Luigi ran straight ahead, leaving Mokou behind.

He ran and ran with Toad slowly slipping off Luigi's back.

"Mmmgh..." Red Toad struggled. "Luigi! I can't hold on!"

"We're almost there! Hold on!"

And then Luigi passed through a gate just as the storm settled down.

* * *

A Japanese village...

Cherry blossoms with petals falling down, tickling Luigi's nose.

A gentle breeze brushing past the duo.

A river leading to a giant lake in the middle...

Said cherry blossom petals falling into the lake while the sun was glistening down on the water.

And plenty of wooden and classic Japanese houses leading down the villages, leading to shops and homes and hotels.

Plenty of people were walking about to. Luigi took in most of the people's appearances.

He felt at ease when he noticed one thing;

There were males here.

That's right. Some humans Luigi noticed were full-fledged boys. They weren't extinct! Finally!

Luigi didn't even feel Red Toad get off his back and run into the village.

Instead, he wiped a tear off his happy face and...

Wait, was he unconsciously jumping up and down? Was he feeling excitement to explore?!

Luigi giggled unconsicously as well. "Heeheeheehee!" He clenched his fists together as he did his silly little laugh as he turned off his flashlight and left his Poltergust on standby.

Time to explore the Human Village.

Luigi's first instinct was to interact with a male. How sad that must be.

The male turned. "Hey, you look new. Welcome to the village."

"Yo." Luigi kept smiling. Is he trying to be hip?

"Uh, you look kinda broken. Perhaps it's best if you have the Shrine Maiden on your side. She's over by the east side." The human walked away.

"Cya, dude!" Luigi finger-gunned.

And then mentally facepalmed. "Okay, maybe the shrine's near the shop. That's where I spend all my money..."

Luigi made his way downtown to the shopping isle.

Some notable shops, and a shop claimed to be housed by 'the greatest magician of all, da ze', whatever that meant.

And a yakitori stand with - Huh?!

Luigi knocked on the top of the stand. "Mokou?! You run a joint here?!"

Mokou, who was setting up supplies, had her back turned to Luigi and then gasped a bit "AAAAH- oh, it's you!" She instantly greeted Luigi with a small smile. "Hey, Luigi!"

"What you selling here?" Luigi looked at the yakitori.

"Yakitori! It's kinda, like, umm..." Mokou put a finger to her chin. "Fried chicken?"

"Oh, that sounds delicious!" Luigi's stomach rumbled on cue and he sheepishly smiled.

"You want one? It costs a bit of yen, of course."

Luigi kept smiling.

"...you're flat broke, aren't you?"

Luigi started to sweat but he still kept the smile.

"...fine. You may take one, but only one, and only once!"

She handed Luigi one yakitori.

"Thank you, come again!" Mokou waved Luigi off as he continued, now with a yakitori in his hand.

He munched on it while looking around. "Hmm, I guess I was hungry! Man, I skipped breakfast with Alice..." He used his other hand to adjust his hat to shield himself from the sun. "And it is boiling today... Hopefully I don't pass out from this heat..." Luigi addressed the sun. He walked down into a dining court and saw Red Toad sitting on a bench. Luigi slid to the table opposite of Red Toad. "Sooo, how's human village life?"

"It's been great! Gensokyo isn't all that bad, now that I think about it!"

Luigi was instantly reminded of all the trauma and suffering he had trudged through to make it to this point.

Red Toad slid off the seat. "Regardless, I found something! Follow me!" He physically dragged Luigi along and down a secret path with cherry blossoms and up a stone staircase. They passed under a red arch, which Luigi had seen plenty of.

And there was a lone shrine in the middle of it all. Supporting a gray roof and a lonely donations box. Luigi looked sad and pulled out a spare coin from the Mushroom Kingdom.

Red Toad looked at Luigi. "Surely you don't feel bad?"

Luigi looked at Red Toad with discerned eyes and tossed the coin into the donation box, clapping twice and praying. After Luigi opened his eyes, he slowly went back to the Human Village.

Red Toad tagged along while they were walking down the stone stairs. "So, what did you wish for, Luigi?"

Luigi winked and smiled. "They say your wish is more likely to come true if you don't tell anyone."

"A man of many secrets!" Red Toad laughed.

And Luigi laughed too, genuinely happy.

...and when they were out of sight and out of anyone's hearing range, someone opened the doors of the shrine.

A brown-haired woman with a red ribbon on her head. She was wearing a red and white shrine maiden's uniform. The girl opened the donation box and pulled out the coin.

"...huh..." The girl pondered. "Is that a coin from the man I've heard so much about...? He's here already. I have to find him quick."

And with that, the girl took her purification rod and made her way to the Human Village.

Luigi was mainly looking at the sky. "There's cherry blossoms everywhere, but I occasionally see some sort of witch with yellow hair flying around on a broom up above... Wonder what that's about..."

Red Toad sighed. "And we couldn't find Reimu! What a shame! We might as well tell Alice about it..."

Luigi nodded and pulled out his Wii Boo, calling Alice.

Alice instantly appeared on the screen. "Lovely weather, Luigi, from the looks of it. Did you find Reimu yet?"

Luigi shook his head. "No."

Alice seemed to flinch. "Well, you might find her now... s-see you, Luigi."

Alice instantly disconnected.

Luigi blinked and turned around and was met with a brown-hair woman in a red-white shrine maiden outfit.

The shrine maiden widened her eyes. "So it IS you... You're the latest incident, huh?"

Luigi was undeniably shivering. "U-um... who may you be...?"

The girl sighed, calmly introducing herself. "My name is Reimu Hakurei. I'm the incident-buster of Gensokyo, or that's what they call me."

Luigi gasped too. This was Reimu.

Wait... He felt his heart sink like a stone.

Earlier, he met Sanae, a green shrine maiden, and confused her for Reimu, a red shrine maiden... Sounded awfully familiar to him, everyone confusing Luigi for Mario... Luigi then felt a heavy stone of guilt weighing over his shoulder.

With Luigi's guilt, the only sentence he could muster was:

"Don't bust me up, please..."

"I'll bust you up real hard if you pose a threat." Reimu held her stick.

Luigi squinted his eyes. "PLEASE rephrase."

"What? What's wrong with what I'm saying?"

"Somebody's gonna take that line out of context."

Reimu rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I can see that you pose no real threat as of now, so if you excuse me, I need to catch up on some sleep and accept more donations." She walked off before Luigi could say anything

"But I-I-I-I-I-I..."

...he didn't get the chance to ask for help. It would annoy her to show up twice, especially in such a short span of time.

Red Toad looked at Luigi, and Luigi just felt utterly lost and broken. He quickly called Alice on his Wii Boo gamepad.

Alice came online and brushed herself off. "Whew, sorry about that earlier. So, did you interact with Reimu?"

Luigi's voice was a low murmur. "I did."

"...and? Is she helping you...?"

Luigi's next voice was a mix of that same low murmur and a bit of hatred and anger.

He said the following with emotion that could almost break him into tears.

"...no."


	10. Slaying A Monster

...was this the feeling of being stumped?

The Shrine Maiden of Paradise, Reimu Hakurei, was of no help to Luigi. Unfortunately for him, she did not care at all.

Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing, too. "Hmm... That's very out of character of Reimu. I suppose I'll have a chat with her later about it... For now-"

E. Gadd barged into the house and looked into Luigi's Wii Boo gamepad.

"WAAAGH!" Luigi was terrified to see the professor suddenly pop up on his screen.

"Luigi!" The professor yelled. "I tried calling you on your Wii Boo, but it had interference, so this was the next best thing!"

Alice was struggling against E. Gadd. "Why are you so in a rush anyway-?!"

"I know where the next captured friend is."

Luigi gasped. "You DO?"

E. Gadd smiled. "Of course! Bringing you here via the new and improved and VERY highly untested Pixelator!"

"Oh nonononono-" Luigi grabbed onto Red Toad.

Red Toad screamed. "Let me go! Or else we'll-"

The Wii Boo gamepad vacuumed both Red Toad and Luigi in, and then vanished without a trace.

Mokou witnessed the whole thing and just shrugged it off.

* * *

Luigi and Red Toad slammed into E. Gadd's lab, hugging each other due to sheer fear.

E. Gadd then entered the lab and chuckled loudly. "I knew you'd lot make it in one piece! Even though the Pixelator IS highly untested."

Luigi tilted his eyebrows. "Hooh, you're funny, E. Gadd. Any more jokes and I'll turn you into clown pieces."

E. Gadd blinked. "Is that a foreshadowing or reference? I genuinely can't tell anymore. Regardless! BEHOLD!" E. Gadd pointed to the arch-portal and it was glowing with Kaguya's item.

"That's-!"

"I'm not so sure about it myself, but when that thing started glowing, a thing popped up on my computer! That thing is none other than coordinates to materials that are made to make paintings to trap us all in!"

Luigi shifted his eyes. "Okay, but where's this one?"

"Floating in the middle of the ocean. This one will be no easy task. Water everywhere..."

Luigi shivered and looked at the green goo on his Poltergust. "Gooigi and water.."

E. Gadd finished. "DEFINITELY don't mix. And I don't have a boat to get you all across-"

Red Toad sighed. "Welp, end of the line! Let's just sit back and enjoy ourselves! Living in Gensokyo doesn't seem all that bad."

Luigi shot a glare to Red Toad then looked back at E. Gadd. "Continue...?"

"So I've asked Alice earlier to set up coordinates to a certain kappa's home!"

Luigi got flashbacks. Alice DID mention a kappa earlier when E. Gadd opened up shop.

E. Gadd continued. "Anyway, I sent them to your Wii Boo gamepad. Do feel free to use it if you get lost!" He clapped his hands together once.

Luigi immediately looked at the map.

"...it's in the Youkai Mountain."

"Hop to it!"

* * *

Door slam before Luigi could object.

He turned to aim his flashlight. "Why am I the one doing this and not Reimu...?"

He went to check in on Alice but saw a note there.

**Apologies for not being home - I will be at the Human Village.**  
**Alice Margatroid**

"..huh." Luigi went back into the Forest of Magic to begin his journey to the Youkai Mountain.

Now his second season will truly start.

He hummed nervously as he trudged through the forest.

Silence...

Only his foosteps remained.

Until-

"BOO! Again!"

A girl with turquoise hair jumped out with her purple umbrella.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-" Luigi slipped up and fell on his bottom. "DON'T EAT ME-Wait, you're... Kogasa!"

Kogasa was the one to be shocked this time. "Wait, you remember me? T-thank you! I mean..!"

Luigi tilted his head in confusion.

Kogasa went back into character. "I mean, hah! I got you again! It's even funnier the second time!" She laughed. "I will tell everyone that the greatest coward of all time is... uh... um..."

Luigi got up, brushing his hat off. "Luigi."

Kogasa smiled. "Well, Luigi, you-"

"...are coming with me." Luigi finished, grabbing Kogasa by the hand and making his way through the forest.

Kogasa went red in the face. "B-but this isn't right! You're supposed to go 'please dont eat me' like last time! Was that, like, not canon or something?!"

Luigi turned his head to Kogasa as he still walked through the forest. "Well I have to have SOME company when dealing with this kappa."

"...and a meatshield." He whispered that last part.

"But the last time we met, you were trembling in fear!" Kogasa protested.

"That was then. This is now." Within a few minutes, he was already at the base of the Youkai Mountain.

Kogasa looked up the mountain. "Oh, hey, I come to the Moriya Shrine all the time!"

Luigi glared at Kogasa. "Then be there instead of scaring me all the time!"

They were walking through the mini-forest with Luigi and Kogasa bickering at each other.

Kogasa pouted. "I can't! I gotta scare people! It's my character!"

"Rumia said the exact same thing, and I beat the snot out of her!"

"Grown lanky man beats up little girls!"

"Self-defense!"

"Are you planning to beat me up too?!" Kogasa was nearly crying. "You're a violent women assaulter!"

"I don't-" Luigi turned to face forward and met with a katana nearly piercing his eye. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The holder of the katana was none other than Momiji. "Ah. I know those terrified screams from anywhere."

She quickly put her katana aside.

"Hello, Luigi." Momiji smiled brightly.

"..." Luigi got flashbacks of him patting Momiji's head and muttered to himself. "Don't tell me I'm actually getting a harem."

Momiji turned to Kogasa. "And you brought a youkai with you? Bold move."

Kogasa linked her arms to Luigi's arm. "Yep! Mr. Coward and I are in a relationship where he beats me up!"

Momiji had an evil glare towards Luigi.

Luigi flailed his free arm. "MISUNDERSTANDING!"

Momiji continued, still staring at Luigi. "So, what brings you here, Mr. I-Beat-Up-Women?"

Luigi deeply sighed upon hearing that insult. "Kappa."

"Oh, looking for the kappa? She's in Genbu Ravine." Momiji points to a MASSIVE WATERFALL THAT HAD PIPES AS WALLS.

"...yeah. Probably that." Luigi shivered and braced himself to fall off a literal cliff and plummet into water... if those platforms or rocks weren't in the way. Luigi had one foot off the edge.

Momiji and Kogasa watched with keen intent.

"Here I go..." Luigi closed his eye and took the plunge.

He could then only hear wind as he fell down.

Please be lucky...

Please be lucky...

"WAAAAAAGH-" Luigi screamed before being halted. He opened his eye and saw that a mass amount of goo was acting like a rope that was coming from his Poltergust. "Oh!"

The goo reformed into Gooigi. "Ho ho!"

Luigi waved. "Hello...!"

Gooigi went back into Luigi's Poltergust. That was the last time Gooigi would be useful because this place is mostly water. He looked up and saw Kogasa gracefully fall, using her umbrella. Luigi was reminded of a certain blonde princess and that only made him sigh more.

Luigi then looked forward to see a girl wearing a blue outfit with a massive blue backpack. The only part of this girl that wasn't blue was her green hat.

The girl was banging away on a workbench, then turned around to Luigi and Kogasa, showing that the girl had blue eyes.

"Oooh!" The girl spoke. "What a weird human! Are you a human? Naaah, it can't be..."

Kogasa peeked out. "This is the kappa?"

"Yep!" The girl proudly posed. "I'm Nitori Kawashiro! And you are...?"

Luigi introduced himself and Kogasa. "I'm Luigi. And that thing is Kogasa."

"THING?!" Kogasa went red and turned to Luigi with an angry expression.

"I see, I see!" Nitori smiled. "And what's that?" She poked at the Poltergust.

"AAAGH-" Luigi was startled when Nitori suddenly got close. "I-It's my Poltergust! I bust stuff up with this trusty vacuum!"

"A vacuum?" Nitori had an unamused face. "That's all?"

"Y-yes?"

Within an instant, Luigi's Poltergust was gone and so was Nitori. She dashed into her tiny little workshop and made some mechanical whirring.

Luigi turned to Kogasa, and Kogasa had the same expression as Luigi; utter bafflement.

Was Luigi finally going to get an upgrade to his Poltergust?

Nitori ran back, covered in sweat. "It is done. I added a MASSIVE upgrade to this puny device and you'll look cool while using it!"

She handed him back the Poltergust, which looked... exactly the same.

"Although you might need to test out it's kinks... Which is where a stadium battle will come in!"

Luigi gripped Kogasa's arm to prevent her from escaping.

"I'll do it." Luigi nodded.

* * *

Luigi was descending down an elevator.

"Why does Kogasa get to spectate but not me..."

There was nobody to talk to but himself.

Another boss fight? Sure, why not. We have tons of boss fights already. What's one more?

Luigi was already starting to regret his decision when he finally came into view of a massive stadium the size of a football field.

The elevator merged with the stadium floor's blue tiles, and there Luigi was. On the floor. He looked at the spectator's seats and saw Kogasa and Momiji.

Luigi glared. "Glad you guys are of help..."

Just then, an announcer speaker came in.

"I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNC-wait, no, wrong script..." Nitori fumbled with her papers on microphone as Luigi stared at the speakers with a deadbeat expression. "Ah, here it is! ARE YOU READYYYY?!"

The stadium's blue floor lit up and was now submerged in an inch of water. Well, there goes Gooigi. Thankfully, a spot under Luigi had glowed. The stadium roared to life with a holographic audience and neon lights blaring down, distracting Luigi's spotlight with HEAVY colors.

The holographic audience cheered.

Nitori's laughter roared on the microphone. "That's the energy I'm feeling! Let's GOOOO!"

A rumble was heard as a massive gate opened.

Luigi could almost wet himself in terror. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me..."

A VERY large mammal-like creature swam into the water-covered floor. It's mechanical eyes glared at Luigi and Luigi could faintly see Nitori through those eyes. Nitori was in the cockpit of this...

_**Mechanical Loch Ness Monster.**_

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Luigi dived out of the way of the monster as Nitori laughed. Luigi gripped his Poltergust. Whether or not it was to test new features...

It was game on.

The Loch Ness Monster began doing laps around the stadium, with the crowd cheering Nitori on.

Every time Luigi moved his half-submered feet, the spotlight followed.

After a few laps, Nitori roared. "Take this!"

The monster aimed it's head at Luigi while moving, charging up a laser beam. It fired and Luigi ran out of the way, thank goodness. Most of his problems could be dodged by simply moving!

Luigi had to figure out what his new feature was, and quickly.

Nitori turned the monster towards Luigi's direction. "Alright, no more messing around! Here I come!"

The monster started to swim towards Luigi. He panicked and tried to get his new feature to work.

"OH NO OH NO OH NO-"

But he was too late. The monster picked Luigi up by the mouth and waved him around a bit. The monster then threw Luigi up into the air and he slammed onto the ground.

The audience roared and cheered as Luigi got up. Well, at least the water softened his blow...

Just then, the Wii Boo notification came up! Thank goodness that thing was waterproof!

E. Gadd's voice was heard as Luigi was focusing on the monster. "Luigi! I am SEVERELY angry at this kappa upgrading MY Poltergust for you, but I think there's a secondary button on the side for you to push!"

The notification disappeared.

Luigi looked at the side of his Poltergust. Next to the Gooigi button was a white button. Luigi pressed it...

The vacuum part of his Poltergust retracted... and out came...

A sharp and long KATANA.

Luigi chuckled. "You're in danger!" He pointed his katana at Nitori.

Nitori gasped. "So you figured it out! Let the games really begin!"

The monster charged at Luigi again, with the latter holding a firm grip.

"Hyaaagh!" Luigi swung his katana at the monster, causing it to malfunction a tiny bit.

He didn't waste any time and used his Suction Shot on one of the eyes.

With enough pull on the vacuum, Luigi successfully yanked off an eye, showing Nitori in the cockpit. "Uh, nice weather?"

The monster got up and continued making it's laps, now more angry than ever. If it ever had feelings to begin with.

Nitori pressed a few buttons and hatches opened up on the monster's side, showing missiles.

"WAAAGH-" Luigi instinctively used the Burst to jump over them. And thank goodness they worked!

The monster charged at Luigi as he switched to Katana mode. He slashed at the monster again and went into Vacuum mode. He pulled another eye socket out.

"You're exposing me!" Nitori cried.

"PLEASE rephrase! First Reimu and now you!" Luigi also cried.

The monster went through it's final laps, charging even faster, Luigi had to switch to Vacuum mode and use the Blow function just to keep himself from getting drenched from the waves that the monster was making.

It then opened more hatches, launching rapid-fire missiles at Luigi.

"NOOOOO-!"

Luigi got hit and the stadium crowd cheered.

Luigi growled as he got up when the monster was charging. He switched to Katana mode as he didn't back down. He swung one last time!

The monster was dizzy but that didn't stop Luigi from using his Suction Shot one more time to bring it's head right off!

Everything went in slow-mo as Luigi popped the monster's head off and slammed it onto the floor, leaving Nitori completely exposed.

Nitori coughed. "Oh, now THIS is art... But we're not done yet-"

"Not done?" Luigi interrupted. "Very well."

Flash with Strobulb.

"GYAGH-" Nitori was shocked by the sudden movement of Luigi.

Luigi dragged Nitori along with the suction device of the Poltergust. Once he built up enough energy...

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Nitori was defeated. She raised her hand up in defeat.

"Gh... Luigi... Is the winner..."

The holographic crowd booed Luigi before disappearing and the lights dimming.

Luigi did a little dance. "Oh ho, yeah!"

Of course he did his boss defeat animation.

Defeating a boss and learning a new fighting style for his Poltergust? He was moving up in the world.

What a day!


	11. Calm Before The Storm

**I don't think any of you are prepared for this arc. The suffering has only just BEGUN.**

* * *

"So, yeah! Congratulations, Luigi!" A clapping Nitori was in front of him. "You got an actual fighting chance this time! Oh, yeah, about this ship thing you probably came here for?"

Luigi furrowed his eyebrow. "How did you know about that?"

True, Luigi never told Nitori about the ship he wants since she rushed into a boss fight.

"Oooh, some weird human with a doll fetish came up to me!"

...Alice.

Luigi sighed. "Well, thank goodness she's looking out for me. Goodness me, I'd be stuck without her..."

Kogasa and Momiji looked at Luigi awkwardly.

"Yeah." Luigi rubbed the back of his head. "I met Alice before any of you. If it weren't for her, I'd be eaten alive by Rumia... What a horrific death." He chuckled to himself, but deep inside... He remembered. He remembered that mountain incident and how he fell down face-first into the ground without a parachute. His face was unidentifiable and a monster. Come to think of it...

_How_ did he survive that?

There is physically NO way he could have survived that.

He turned to Nitori. "Sorry, continue."

"So, yeah!" Nitori did the math with her fingers. "It'll take approximately a week before this ship gets built! I hope you have a lot of patience!"

Luigi got PTSD flashbacks of the amount of trolling that Yukari did, the amount of scaring Kogasa dealt, and the amount of cruelness that Kaguya dished out.

"Yeah, sure..." Luigi said, with a slight hint of anger. "I'm _patient_." He stretched. "Well, sure, Nitori! I'll contact you via Wii Boo!" He handed the gamepad to Nitori.

"...what do you expect me to do with this?" She blinked. "Oh, right! Give me a second!" She pressed some buttons on the gamepad at LIGHTNING speed and handed it back to Luigi. "There we go! Now you can contact me at any time!"

Luigi stuffed the gamepad back in his infinite pocket space and gave a thumbs up. "Nice Nitori!" He turned and started climbing all the way back up the waterfall again.

Nitori waved. "Bye! Thanks for the fuuun!"

Luigi waved back with one hand as he continued climbing.

* * *

Finally, they were at the top and Luigi took a massive breath.

Momiji simply smiled at him. "You're awfully persistent, Luigi."

"Yeah..." He huffed, as he was getting his breath back. "Well, a lot of things are at stake here.."

Flashbacks of Mario. _"That's my bro!"_

"..." Luigi kept quiet.

Kogasa stuck her tongue out. "But you go running for the hills as soon as I spook ya! Hah hah!"

Luigi chuckled and brought Kogasa out of Momiji's impressive hearing range. "If you spook me one more time then I'll make YOU scream."

Back to Momiji. "Anyway! I suppose I should get going to the Human Village! Oh!" He pointed his finger at them. "You two wanna join me? We could make this a fun day ou-"

"We refuse." They both say at the same time.

"INSTANT REJECTION?!" Luigi's heart shattered. "There goes my flawless harem! I mean... not that I ever _wanted_ one... Oh, right! Momiji's a tengu and Kogasa's a youkai! They can't really go into the Human Village..."

He bowed apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like we'll have to split paths."

Kogasa pouted. "Aaaw! I wanted to be with you mooore! Well, it can't be helped! Scare ya later!~" She then skipped off.

Momiji bowed. "I shall be in this mountain. Seek me if you require further assistance." She left elegantly.

"..." Luigi was by himself and sighed again. "The loneliness is catching up to me. Well, regardless... I don't think I'll climb up this mountain ever again until I get Nitori's ship-"

Just then, his Wii Boo went off. Luigi picked it up and answered, showing E. Gadd's face. "Yello?"

E. Gadd chimed in. "Ah, Luigi! I bet you finally got negotiations to build a ship! I know it's gonna take a while. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day! Thankfully, I had Alice take care of a feeeeew things while she was negotiating with the kappa!"

Luigi noticed a security camera down at Nitori's workshop.

"That's..." Luigi recognised it. "The Pixelator-?"

"Alice set one up here and in the Human Village!"

Luigi smiled. Finally, his allies were **USEFUL!**

"Well, take me to the Human Village, please!"

E. Gadd saluted. "Sure can do, buckaroo!" E. Gadd disconnected.

The Wii Boo started glowing and sucked Luigi straight in.

"WAAAAAAGH-"

* * *

Luigi suffers from interdimensional travelling; the fanfiction.

* * *

He landed in front of the Human Village. "I'm gonna have severe trauma from this... Some people aren't _prepared_ to travel alternate dimensions..."

Luigi turned around and was met with a face of a girl with red hair and a blue bow. Her scarf was covering her mouth.

"Ah, a human!" Luigi smiled. "Hello, how are-" He took a step back.

Yep, that was decapitated head being held by the hand of a headless girl.

**"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-AAAAAAAGH!"** Luigi stepped back about six feet away from the girl. Gotta respect social distancing, even in alternate dimensions!

The girl cackled in laughter before she was interrupted by a familiar face. "Sekibanki, that's enough. Leave the defenceless coward alone."

Luigi and Sekibanki turned to the voice. It was... the shrine maiden again.

Reimu Hakurei.

Sekibanki whined, putting her head back on. "Jeez, Reimu... You're always so cruel to me. Well, whatever. That reaction was so worth it. Later." She dismissively waved her hand as she went back into the Human Village.

Luigi was shaking wildly and turned back to Reimu.

Reimu went to face Luigi. "You're still here. Honestly, Alice was pestering so much about you!" She pouted. "You're not really that special, just a human..."

"Hey, listen, you damn _tsundere_..." Luigi was still shaking. "I need your help."

Reimu sighed. "I know, I know. That was Sekibanki. She can make her head fly and stuff. Creeps me out too."

Luigi furrowed his eyebrow. "That's _**not**_ what I'm begging for help about!"

"I know, I know." She shrugged. "You're completely lost, helpless, and with no current way to get home. I get that. That's why Alice pestered me to help you."

"Mmhhmm." Luigi nodded.

"Come now, let's talk this over tea at my shrine." Reimu walked forward.

"Wait for me, please! _I don't want to be lonely..._" Luigi ran after Reimu.

They walked into the Human Village square. Luigi commented despite already having been here. "This place is so lively and cheerful..." He looked up at the clear blue sky.

Clear blue sky? It was like that when he went to Nitori's... That battle was quick but it felt like hours.

Reimu turned her head to Luigi while still walking. "It's _always_ lively. You really aren't from this dimension, aren't you?"

"Nope, none." Luigi shook his head. "I get so scared from the slightest things."

Reimu couldn't help but force out a chuckle at Luigi's sheer will to keep going.

"Live strong, Luigi."

"Ah, you know my name?" Luigi tilted his head.

"Alice kept saying your name over and over. Oh." Reimu looked forward. "Speak of the Hecatia."

"Hecatia? Is that your version of the Devil-" Luigi looked forward and saw Alice running towards the two.

"Luigiiii!" Alice waved and stopped in front of them, catching her breath.

Reimu gave a wry smile. "You're unusually peppy, Alice. This isn't like your cold silent personality at all."

"Well, seeing Luigi still alive is enough to make me feel better."

Reimu gave an unamused glare. "Well, I'm taking Luigi to discuss our world-saving plans in my shrine, of course, over some hot tea."

"R-right." Alice nodded. "I understand it's a private conversation, so I'll be heading back to my house. Good luck, Luigi." Alice smiled and then left.

Just as Reimu was about to take another step forward, another voice in the sky resonated. "Yooo! Reimu! Oh! And is that the latest incident?! Bold of you to not incinerate this incident yet, ze!"

Reimu groaned and Luigi groaned too, but mostly because the latter was tired of simply being referred to as 'incident'.

The voice in the sky dropped down, revealing a blonde girl with a black-and-white attire, and a witch hat on top. And yes, that broom really did make her _fly._

Reimu groaned in despair. "I _really_ don't have time for you..."

"Aaaaw!" The witch pouted. "You're always so cold to me... Fine, I'll talk to the incident myself, then!"

She brought her face up to Luigi's and Luigi went red out of instinct.

The witch chuckled and held out her hand. "I'm just the Ordinary Magician! But you may refer to me as... Marisa Kirisame!"

Oh, never mind. The 'witch', but now 'magician' had a bright attitude. Luigi paused for a few moments, taking it all in. He offered his shaky hand and did a handshake with Marisa. "I-I'm Luigi..."

* * *

Long story short, it took a LOT of wording to get Marisa to be not-suspicious about Luigi.

"Ah, I see, I see! So the incident is just a normal human, I see da ze!" Marisa nodded while folding her arms. They were STILL in the Human Village and not the shrine. Although the sky was fading from blue to a steady orange. "Mmh! I get it now! Not to worry, you! I'll call ya Luigi just so we're even!"

Luigi had angry eyebrows that were eventually relieved. "Good. Call me Luigi and I'll call you Marisa."

"Mm! Mm!" Marisa nodded again, "Wait, what were ya about to call me?"

**"Something that wouldn't be PG..."** Luigi had a menacing aura.

"I-I get it! Besides, I know you'll be busy with Miss Cold Shrine Maiden over there, so I'll take my leave! I'm looking for-"

Reimu interrupted "-loot to steal?"

"-finest treasures!" Marisa finished.

Reimu leaned in and whispered to Luigi's ear. "She means loot to steal."

_"Aaaah."_ Luigi breathed in an understanding tone. "Well, Marisa, I wish you luck!" He gave a thumbs up.

Marisa got on her broom, flew up, and also gave a thumbs up. "Sure! See ya later, you two!" She flew off.

Reimu sighed. "Aaand that's Marisa. Best you forget about her." She said with no sarcasm.

"With your cold tone, I can't tell if you're serious or sarcastic..." Luigi muttered.

"Well, come on." Reimu hurried up and started to run. "If we're late, we'll be at nightfall, and scary things come out at dark."

Luigi shuddered at the thought of Sekibanki showing up agian, so he ran twice the speed of Reimu.

* * *

They were now in the shrine, the smell of tea filling the air. The moon didn't shine through the shrine, but a lamp gave the place a warm cozy atmosphere.

"I _really_ do appreciate you giving me tea, despite how flat broke you are." Luigi bowed in respect as he sat down.

"In my world of poverty, tea is like a freebie." Reimu sipped her own cup and set it down on the table. "Now, about your problem and 'world saving'."

"Yes, that is what Alice said...?" Luigi leaned forward.

"I don't see anything that threatens the world so far aside from Yukari. The problem is, I can't pin her to any evidence that shows she would commit this incident. If I go and beat her up for 'no reason', then people would resent me."

"So?" Luigi shrugged. "What's the problem with that?"

"People resenting me means even less donations."

Luigi averted his eyes. "...that would be troublesome.. yes... I can see why you can't help me... I'm sorry if Alice pestered you..."

Reimu was actually a bit shocked. "Why are you so apologetic about everything? No harm came out of anything so far!"

Luigi dropped his tone and got a bit serious. "...I don't want another fight. I don't want another situation where my entire life is at risk... I'm a coward, but who can blame me? _Anyone would be if they knew how much danmaku hurts..._"

Reimu was at a loss for words. Luigi really suffered that much? She couldn't help but feel sympathy. "Hey, well, I can offer the best help I can. It won't be much though until I can pin Yukari against the incident."

"Thanks, Reimu... Thank you..." Luigi repeated.

"Well, you should get some sleep. I doubt you can get back with so little energy, even with your fancy high-tech devices that Alice kept telling me about."

"Ah, you're right." Luigi pulled out his Wii Boo gamepad and contacted Alice. "Hey, Alice... I'm crashing by Reimu's place for the night."

Alice nodded. "That's fine, Luigi. I'll tell the Red Toad that he can have the other bed. I'll also tell Gadd about it."

Luigi smiled and disconnected. "Well, that's everything!"

Reimu pulled out a spare futon. "I had one prepared because Marisa randomly crashes in for the night... So here."

"Aha! I see!" Luigi unequipped his Poltergust and crawled into the futon, all snuggly like. "Hee hee! It's so warm!"

Reimu seeing Luigi get excited over the smallest things was purely wholesome. "Well, Luigi..." She turned off the lamp and crawled into her own futon. "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed youkai bite!~"

Luigi shivered despite being in a warm futon. "H-hey...!"

Reimu giggled as Luigi realised that she was just being funny. He slowly laid down and closed his eyes.

* * *

Luigi woke up to a gentle breeze and in the middle of a flower patch.

He slowly got up, carefully trying not the ruin the flowers.

"Huh... This is not the shrine..."

He tried pinching himself.

"Ow-! Okay... This is not a dream either... Did I sleep too long, forcing Reimu or Alice to drag me along here...? Why am I here? Is this a shortcut to Nitori's place...?"

He walked forward slowly, feet stepping on the grass calmly as he looked at the beautiful blue sky, a gentle breeze tickling his mustache.

"Well, regardless, I think I should get my Poltergust ready. You never know when you're alone... You may just encounter a boss fight or two..."

Luigi reached behind himself for the Poltergust on his back.

His, ah... his.. Poltergust...

Luigi felt around his back as he slowly retracts his hands to a neutral position. His eyes shrunk in absolute disbelief and horror.

"My Poltergust...

_is gone."_


	12. Die, Die Again

**This chapter may seem a bit short, but who doesn't love a good ol' suffering session?**

* * *

"No."

"Nonononononono!"

"NONONONONONONO!"

Luigi repeated to himself over and over. He was hyperventilating at this point. He was NOTHING without his Poltergust. Apologies to any Luigi fans out there, but that was the truth.

He felt around for his Wii Boo gamepad... The empty feeling made Luigi's heart go empty too.

_That was gone too._

"NO NO NO NO NO!"

He had no tools. Not even a FLASHLIGHT.

This was the worst possible day.

"Wake up.. you idiot!" Luigi pinched himself harder. So much harder, in fact he bled a little bit. "You idiot..."

He grasped the reality very quickly. This was not a dream. This was reality. The gentle flower fields that Luigi was in... was reality. But he didn't want to be in gentle flower fields.

Luigi tried his next best tactic when he has nothing.

"Hello?! Anyone?!" He yelled out.

_...all he got in response was echos of his own desperate voice._

He closed his eyes. Literally only one option remained. He held his hand out.

"THUNDER!"

He tried casting Thunderhand.

...

Luigi felt tears come out of his eyes when he opened them.

He didn't even have Thunderhand in Gensokyo.

_Completely powerless._

"Wh... what is this...?!" Luigi looked at his own hands in horror.

"Ah, you're finally awake?" A female voice called out.

That didn't sound like anyone he knew. The boss fight for this chapter. Wait, boss fight? Why? He had nothing!

Luigi started shivering. "Th-the cliche of 'are you awake'... I see... With th-that tone, you must be the boss fight..."

"Boss fight?" The unknown female spoke. "We could be great pals! Join me!"

"No thanks, Satan!" Luigi joked in this trying time.

"Oh please..." The female got closer. "My friends call me..." She revealed herself.

A green-hair female with red clothing and a parasol.

"Yuuka."

Luigi was still shivering.

"I see, it's no wonder you're scared! You wake up in a beautiful flower field when you fell asleep in a dusty old shrine! What a comical sight!" Yuuka giggled to herself.

Luigi grumbled a bit.

Yuuka continued. "Well, you're not totally doomed. We're still in Gensokyo. It's just my little flower field I secretly take care of."

Luigi looked around himself. Flowers were everywhere below him. Almost like a maze-like pattern if he weren't allowed to step on them.

Yuuka shrugged. "Well, whatever. I didn't drag you all the way here for nothing. We're gonna play a little game, see?"

"Game?" Luigi blinked. "I really don't have time for any-"

Before he could protest, Yuuka raised her arms. "It's simple, really! Navigate through my flower fields in a limited time! If time's up, I will personally walk over myself and kill you!"

"H-huh..." Luigi could've fought Yuuka if he just had his Poltergust..

but he didn't.

"Okay? Ready, set, go!"

"H-huh?"

Yuuka blasted Luigi's face with danmaku.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up in the flower fields. "Guess the game's beginning..." He got up slowly. "Ow, my face..."

Yuuka's voice resonated within the air. "Yep! You have a limited time, so be careful!"

Luigi looked towards the voice in fear. Sure enough, she was slowly walking forwards toward him.

He gulped.

He wanted to get away from Yuuka, so he walked slowly through the flower field, ignoring some of the rules.

Yuuka got closer in less than an INSTANT. "Rule broken. No stepping on my flowers!"

Luigi turned to Yuuka and got shot in the face with danmaku.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again.

"Deja vu..." Luigi got up again. "Ow ow ow..." The pain tolerance that Luigi had was strong, but it was still THERE. Getting hit with danmaku would technically mean death, but Luigi's body still lived on.

The downfall to THAT is that he could still feel the pain of death-like scenarios.

He realised the reality. "Wait, you're just gonna keep toying with me?!"

Sure enough, he saw Yuuka walking closer. He folded his arms, waiting for Yuuka to get to him so she can answer his question.

Slowly, slowly she got closer until she finally arrived. She aimed her palm at Luigi and said a simple answer.

"Yes."

Luigi got shot in the face with danmaku.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again.

"Uuuugh..." He groaned and got up, a minor blood patch on where his face once laid. His face was looking worse for wear. Regardless...

Time to push through this flower maze!

He got on his toes to be more precise with his movements. Carefully navigating lefts, rights and straights to not step on any flowers.

"Ha ha! I got it locked down! How do you like that, Yuuka-"

Yuuka was right behind him.

"...Please don't-"

Yuuka fired another blast, but Luigi used his arm to block. It actually worked!

"..."

"..."

Yuuka grinned at Luigi.

Luigi felt awfully sore and lightheaded for some reason. He turned and looked at his hand...

...his hand was on the grass! His hand was entirely cut off!

**"AAAAAAAAAGH!"** Luigi screamed in horror and agony.

Yuuka then aimed her palm at Luigi's face again. "That should teach you not to be slow."

Luigi got shot in the face with danmaku.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again.

But before that-

_**"AAAAAAGh-AAAAAAAGH!"**_ Luigi tossed and turned, rolling around and getting up. He looked at his hand... It was... back on him again?!

His beating heart wouldn't slow down, however. Luigi was sitting down. He had yet to recover from his traumatic experience.

And then Yuuka arrived once more.

Luigi looked up, horror flashing in his eyes as he quickly got up on his feet and tried to make a sprint for it...

But Luigi was knocked down, his vision becoming crimson. He saw his entire ARM get cut off.

"Haaagh.. aaagh...?!"

And then he was shot in the face with danmaku.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again.

"Oh, I'm getting sick of this..." He got up, seeing his arm back on his body, but the pain still there.

He saw Yuuka walking towards him. "I see how it is! You want me to fight without my Poltergust..."

He balled up his fists. "I'm ready for you!"

Yuuka approached him, and Luigi ran in! "HAAAAAAGH!" He threw in a punch, but...

Yuuka dodged it. She smirked. "Too slow." She fired danmaku.

Luigi landed on his back, but oddly didn't lose consciousness.

He saw that his stomach was sliced open, spilling blood. "Aaaagh! It hurts! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it-"

And then danmaku was shot at his face.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again.

He shot up onto his feet, screaming and bawling His arm was back on his body but the pain was still there. "MAKE IT STOOOOP! AGH-AAAAGH!" His mouth was making nothing but screams now. His vision being blurred by tears. He ran through the flower maze, ignoring the 'no-stepping' rule and running through his vision of tears. Luigi tumbled to the ground and screamed once more.

Now it was one of his legs being torn off.

"MY LEEEEEEEG!"

Yuuka approached Luigi with a grin on her face. "I'll make it stop only if you make it through the flower maze."

She aimed danmaku at Luigi's eyeball.

And then fired. In other words, Luigi's eye was gouged out.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again.

He was in perfectly normal condition. His legs were still there, and he still had two eyes... But the pain.

"Haaah... I can't...! The pain...! I don't... wanna..."

He got up on his feet. Yuuka was already there due to how long Luigi stayed unconscious. She aimed her palm and Luigi just stood there, absolutely horrified.

She fired her blast, but instead of being instantly knocked out, he was rolled on the ground, his vision going loopy and then.

His arm broke during the harsh rolling. Bone snapping was heard. An entire dislocated shoulder.

He laid there on the ground, fate waiting for him to pass out.

"No..." Luigi's tears mixed in with his bloody body and battered face. "I don't wanna die..."

He weakly raised his head up and saw Yuuka in the far distance, still approaching him.

"Help me...! I don't wanna die...!"

He tried calling out to anybody, but Luigi was all alone with Yuuka. He got up on his feet and started running away from Yuuka.

His broken arm and weak body made him look like a desperate bumbling fool with his staggered running and flailing his arms.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! HELP ME! SOMEBODY! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

He tripped over his own feet and rolled on the ground again.

"I don't wanna die... I wanna see Mario again..."

Luigi opened his eyes to meet Yuuka... but... Yuuka wasn't there.

Just a calm sunshine on a pleasant field.

"..."

* * *

It was now night time. Luigi refused to accept this reality. He would rather 'die' again than to be in his current state.

Luigi was walking down the field. Shoulder still dislocated, his face looking like a thug gang beating took place. Bruises and blood spots everywhere. He was just aimlessly walking.

His squinting eyes took note of one more thing.

The flower field ended and he saw a forest up ahead. He saw a figure at the forest entrance.

He stumbled his way towards the figure. Taking note of it's gooey appearance.

"You're..." Luigi mumbled.

It was Gooigi, holding Luigi's Poltergust.

"Oh... I see..." Luigi remembered some crucial information that E. Gadd gave him back at the Last Resort. Gooigi can move whenever Luigi gets unconscious, and that entire torture session allowed Gooigi to meet up with Luigi.

Luigi put the Poltergust on his back, only supporting one-arm, so it was half attached. He didn't want to touch his broken arm.

"Let's go..."

Gooigi remained keeping his energetic voice. "Bye bye!" And then he dissipated into mere goo in his tank.

* * *

Luigi trudged through the forest, not having the motivation to even use his flashlight. Aimlessly wandering until he finds somebody, anybody to help.

As if right on cue, he entered a massive open area. He heard a voice. A familiar voice.

"See? I told you, he's right there!"

An ice fairy popped out.

Cirno was suddenly aggrivated. "Now will you let go of me already?!"

A white-hair figure with red pants also emerged. "I was curious abo-Huh?! LUIGI?!" Mokou dropped Cirno and ran to Luigi.

Luigi didn't hear anything throughout his muffled hearing. "You guys.. are okay..."

"Gosh, human! You stink! And you look gross!" Cirno commented while laughing.

Luigi couldn't help but force a smile out of himself. If there's any good coming out of his battered face, is that he could still crack a smile.

...and then he fainted.

"Luigi?!" Mokou's cries were the last thing Luigi heard.

* * *

...

Luigi woke up again

\- BUT! Before you readers get into a panic, he woke up in a familiar bed.

"..." Luigi lost all the will to speak.

Alice was watching over him all this time. During Luigi's last unconscious state, all his wounds were healed, including his dislocated shoulder.

Alice was in a worried state. "Luigi? Are you alright?"

Luigi turned to Alice. Not even blinking. Still in a state of horror after Yuuka's experience.

"Uhm..." Alice looked worried still.

Luigi suddenly hugged Alice.

"A-ah! I get that some people ship us, but this is a little far-!"

Alice suddenly felt tear stains roll down her back shoulder where Luigi's face was.

"...Luigi?"

"Eeh... eeh eh... Eh..."

Luigi was still sobbing. Not even changing his eye expressions or his mouth - which supported a blank state.

His mental state...

_is long gone._

* * *

**Before you ask, yes, I took some inspiration from Re:Zero, and to that I say...**

**shhhhh**


	13. School Days

Everyone was staring at the empty husk that was Luigi.

Red Toad, Alice, E. Gadd, and the recently-new Mokou and Cirno.

"...has Luigi always been like this?" Alice turned to E. Gadd and Red Toad in which they both shook their heads.

The professor sighed. "He was always a bit scared but never traumatised."

Red Toad pondered. "How did he end up in this situation anyway? He looks completely fine."

Alice thought and then looked at Luigi. "You know, I saw him all damaged and beaten when Mokou brought him in... but..."

She looked at Luigi's face now. Completely healed and fine... but that traumatised face indicated that the incident was real.

Red Toad was just casually talking to E. Gadd. "Can't say I blame the man. I would say to him 'use your super jump to get out' but he probably got a head rush from panicking and didn't think of it..."

Meanwhile, Mokou was deep in thought about something. "Huh. Wait a second. He WAS damaged before... How is he fine now?"

The ice fairy, known as Cirno, finally got back her tomboyish attitude. "Well, luckily, I snuck into the gross man's belongings and found this!" She whipped out the 'buff-against-youkai' Elixr.

Everyone stared at it. Mokou snatched it away much to Cirno's dismay. The fairy protested. "H-hey!"

The immortal girl slowly pulled out her finger. "I wonder if..."

She slowly rubbed her finger on the word 'Youkai' that was plastered on the bottle.

And then another word was hidden underneath. Mokou struggled to breathe a bit. It... couldn't possibly be.

"What?" Everyone turned. "What is it?"

Mokou turned the bottle around so that everyone could see the label.

The label, previously saying 'Youkai Elixr' was now saying 'Hourai Elixr'.

...But nobody understood. Mokou sighed and then explained it.

"It's how I'm immortal."

E. Gadd shook his hands. "Wait, wait! If Luigi is IMMORTAL, if that is what you're truly implying, then he should be fine! Immortals are invincible and-"

"People who drink the Hourai Elixr ARE immortal, yes." Mokou interrupted. "But they still feel pain. I don't want to imagine Luigi's pain... but I saw them."

E. Gadd's stomach churned. "How bad is the damage?"

"Well, all the damages are healed, but I noticed several slices to the stomach, blood patches around his eyeballs, as well as various other brutal details."

Cirno actually used her brain for once. "Brutal details, huh? Must be that scary lady Yuuka!"

Alice then continued. "Regardless, I contacted Reimu as soon as I put Luigi in bed, she should be here right about now-"

And then, Alice's door was kicked down!

"Alright, who's traumatised the innocent green man?!" Reimu was pissed.

Cirno raised her arms in surrender. "Yuuka! Yuuka did!"

Reimu turned to leave but Alice spoke loudly to stop her. "Reimu, please. Yuuka isn't here now. I'm sure everyone had their reasoning..."

What Alice didn't know was that Yuuka was the one who started it and brutally traumatised Luigi.

"..." Reimu had an idea clicking into her head. "Oi, mushroom thing."

Red Toad pointed at himself and Reimu nodded.

"Come with me. I know someone that'll teach you all about Gensokyo."

Mokou knew who this 'someone' was. "Ah, Keine-sensei?"

"Her, yes." Reimu confirmed.

Alice nodded. "I see. I need to head to the Human Village too. I should talk with a certain someone about the elixr."

Mokou sighed. "I guess that leaves me to supervise Luigi along with the nutty professor."

But there was a protestor in the room. Red Toad. "Hold on! What if this is someone leading me to a death trap and- AGH-"

Red Toad was picked up effortlessly by Reimu. "Come on, we're leaving."

"Noooo, wait!"

Everyone left, leaving just Mokou and E. Gadd. Alice took the empty elixr from Mokou before leaving. Mokou frowned as she looked upon Luigi.

"Please... let his suffering be over soon."

* * *

Voila, the Human Village. Red Toad was here before but he was still amazed by all the beautiful details of the village.

The water was even blue-r than in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Alice went forward and found who she was looking for instantly. A purple-hair bunny girl who was selling medicine. Reisen.

Everyone followed Alice to be in front of Reisen.

The rabbit noticed Red Toad. "Huh. The 'other world treasure' that Kaguya had was actually a living thing..."

Reimu noticed Alice's intentions. "Ah, right, you plan to interrogate the rabbit about the elixr."

Alice didn't lie and pulled out the empty bottle. Reisen gulped. "Fine, fine, you deserve the truth. It started when Luigi was first leaving..."

* * *

_"Now then, I do believe you should be on your way." Eirin stated while having a guilty expression on her face._

_"Oh, yeah, thank you!" Luigi thanked the residents of the mansion while being cautious of Kaguya's smug grin. And with that, he was out of the way._

_Everyone went back into serious mode. Eirin looked at Kaguya. "You know what's up, don't you?"_

_Kaguya turned her head to Eirin. "Yes, you gave him the Hourai Elixr, didn't you?"_

_Eirin stayed silent._

_"..." Kaguya didn't show any malice to Eirin. "May I ask why, though?"_

_"..." Eirin finally spilled the beans. "Those were the eyes of someone who suffers on numerous occasions. I could tell just by his tone that he was on a desperate mission. He is definitely an outsider and Gensokyo is brutal to those. I gave him the Hourai Elixr out of sheer mercy from this world."_

_"So, you'd rather have him suffer eternally rather than to let him die at peace?"_

_"...It was an impossible decision. Both scenarios would likely be very bad."_

_"...True. Well, Reisen, I suppose you should pack up to sell medicine for the Human Village."_

_"...I know." Reisen nodded._

* * *

"...And that's it."

"...So... Everyone just took pity on him?!" Red Toad snapped. "Don't give us that! He tries his best!"

"Hm. That's it." Reimu nodded. "Luigi drank the elixr and is now eternally suffering. Not much I can do except wait for his condition to recover."

"...how long will it take?"

Reimu blanked out upon that question. "I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Eirin is."

She grabbed Red Toad's hand.

"Anyway, YOU, I still need to bring you along to Keine."

And so Reimu dragged Red Toad along.

And then they met a silver-hair girl with a blue dress.

"Keine. I got a new student for you." Reimu casually said as she dropped Red Toad brutally.

"E-eh?!" The woman known as Keine was confused. "I can teach him, sure.. but I have various questions and-"

"What? Spit it."

"W-well.. you see... This mushroom thing looks like a youkai... and... This all seems sudden! Like, why would you suddenly drop him off here and say 'go teach lol' to me so suddenly? Is there a reason?"

"Keine, please, I don't have much time. I'm stressed and solving an incident. Can the 50 questions wait after that?"

"Fine..."

Keine sighed.

Reimu nodded in satisfaction as she went to leave.

"A-ah, you're just leaving me with him?!" Keine shouted.

And then Reimu was gone.

* * *

In the middle of the classroom, Red Toad raised his hand. "Keine!"

"It's Miss Keine, weird mushroom head."

The classroom was filled with various students ready to learn about Gensokyo.

"Keine-sensei!" Red Toad corrected himself as he slumped back into his seat. "What am I doing here to begin with?"

"School life. Ready to learn about the history of Gensokyo."

"Yes! School life!" Red Toad stood on his chair. "An important part of everyone's life, despite how everyone says how hell it is!"

Red Toad paused and then pointed out the massive elephant in the room.

There were children amongst grown-ups at deaths door in the same class.

"But don't schools usually have an age gap?!"

"Now, now." Keine waved her hands to calm Red Toad down as the latter sat back down on his seat. "If you say 'gap' then the troll may appear."

"...Uh, no thanks, I'll get back to work!"

* * *

...Red Toad slammed his head down in the courtyard of the school.

"...things were making sense until a 'Scarlet Mist Incident'..." He groaned. "How much history does this isekai world have to begin with...?"

He looked up in the clouds as he continued his rants. "Keine keeps saying the 'Outside World' is the famous country Japan... And Japan is nowhere near the Mushroom Kingdom... how the heck do I get home with Luigi?"

Keine was sitting on a bench near Red Toad. "You're working hard."

"I'm not done yet, though. Next up is a Cherry Blossom Incident and then I'll stop for then."

"Ah, I do believe that's where Yukari really started interfering..." Keine pondered.

"Yukari? That troll?"

And then an unknown voice spoke out. "Troll? That's a really nasty word."

A gap appeared in front of Red Toad as he stood up. Out emerged the main antagonist of the story herself, Yukari. She sat on the gap while holding a fan to hide her smug grin.

Usually, any type of Toad would flee immediately. It always worked for Bowser, so surely it would work for Yukari.

But this specific Toad did not back down. He clenched his fist, showed his teeth and glared in anger at Yukari.

Yukari didn't take anything from it. She just found it amusing. "I'm always so unwanted by you two. It's like a dramatic rom-com..."

Keine didn't flinch either. "So, anything you want, Yukari?"

She just lazily relaxed atop her gap. "Not really. I just came to say hi. I also checked in on Luigi, but a certain immortal phoenix insisted I wouldn't touch him. There was also an ice fairy who tried to attack me but that was no problem."

Red Toad stepped forward, his confidence getting a bit too much here. "Yeah, you better not have touched him..."

"Someone's a bit salty. Not to worry. Luigi seemed a bit dangerous to touch anyway. He's an empty husk now."

"...I suppose you're not gonna tell me why."

"Yuuka did indeed do it. So feel free to go all out on her. But there's probably no way to get Luigi's emotion back."

Red Toad clenched his fist tighter. "So what happens if we do bring his emotion back?"

"Then I fully await for the day...

he saves this world from the real upcoming incident."

And with those cryptic words, Yukari was gone.

Red Toad was baffled. Keine was about to say something when Alice walked in. Alice went straight to Red Toad.

"Uh, you might wanna come with me."

* * *

Red Toad's objections were halted as Alice dragged him by the hand to the main village. There, she saw Mokou holding hands with Luigi. She lead him all the way here.

Luigi didn't even blink. His creepy smile was gone and replaced with a depressed blank stare. Black circles were under his eyes.

Red Toad was shocked. "Wait, why is Luigi here? He should be resting!"

"Well, uh..." Mokou struggled to find the words. "I was trying to show him the many wonders of Gensokyo to get him back to normal, but he stayed silent the entire time. I was at the docks alone when I ran into a certain someone. I, of course, asked this someone if they could help Luigi get back to a normal state, and they said yes! So, I brought Luigi all the way here to the Human Village where that person and I agreed to meet."

"Brilliant!" Alice and Red Toad said at the exact same time. "So how do we get him back to normal?"

"Having a friendly fight, duh."

"...eh?"

And just then, that certain someone arrived. "I'm here, so this is Luigi, huh?"

A blue-hair girl wearing a hood swept onto the scene. She was carrying rings on her hands.

"Sure is, Ichirin."

Ichirin went up to Luigi's face and awkwardly looked at him. "Yikes. He really is out of it. Don't worry, there's an arena near here. I'm sure we'll get him back. I'll be sparring with Mokou here. You are all free to watch."

Alice tilted her head. "You two really got along in the short conversation you had earlier..."

"Sure did! Now, let's get a good fight under way!" Ichirin pounded her fists together.

* * *

**Apologies for the cringe that was Chapter 12, but don't worry, that was the peak of Luigi's suffering... for now. He'll be back to good ol' Luigi in the next chapter. Spoiler alert.**


	14. State Of Mind

"Alright, is Luigi seated?" Ichirin glanced to the grass and Luigi was indeed sat down, still in his blank state. "Ah. He is. Well, Mokou, feel free to begin at any time!"

It was a simple stone circle unlike the grand spectacle that was Nitori's arena. Also, the only spectators were Luigi, Alice, Red Toad and Reimu.

Reimu, however, didn't want any part of this. "Let's just hope this works."

Alice and Reimu sat down on each side of Luigi. Red Toad was just vibing on his own.

Mokou clenched her fist and beckoned forward by opening her palm and twitching her fingers. "Come at me, then!"

Luigi just had a blank stare.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Luigi's subconscious...

"...I don't want to try... Please, Mario... I'm scared."

An area started form in his mind. A blank grassy area. Wait, no, it was starting to form into a village...

The Human Village.

And then he heard a voice he yearned to hear so much.

"What's-a wrong, bro?"

A sparkle appeared in front of Luigi as it started to take form into his own brother, Mario.

"...Mario?" Luigi finally spoke after an entire day of being silent.

"Well... Not-a really. I'm-a like a manifestation of-a your subconscious." Mario shrugged.

"...oh." Luigi got depressed again.

"More importantly!" Mario lifed his posture up again. "You're an-a empty husk in the real world! We need to get you-a back and save... well... 'me'." He pointed to himself and chuckled a bit. "Hah hah..."

Luigi averted his gaze. He couldn't look at his manifestation of his own brother in the eyes. "I... I don't think I'll wake up. Yuuka traumatised me."

"I know, I know." Mario nodded. "Your thoughts at-a the time were very much like a certain tracksuit-a boy who's good at-a returning by death. It's easy to get your-a brain muddled up when you're constantly in pain."

"...How am I not dead...?" Luigi looked at his own body. Perfectly fine.

"You-a drank the 'Youkai Elixr' but it's true name was-a the 'Hourai Elixr'."

"...Huh? I don't get what you're saying... I'll ask someone like Alice to confirm for me when I wake up..."

"Come on, Luigi!" Mario beckoned. "We're-a gonna get your sanity back by going on an adventure! Let's-a-go!"

...Even though this Mario was fake... He was right. Luigi wasn't just gonna stand there and be depressed! So Luigi followed up on Mario's famous line.

"Okie dokie...!"

But the question is...

How would they get out?

As if hearing the text's thoughts... Mario turned around to Luigi. "So, how do we-a get out anyway? Hah hah."

"That's-"

"-easy." Someone interrupted Luigi's sentence.

A gap with eyes appeared. Luigi instantly got mad as Yukari emerged.

Luigi popped off instantly. "Even in my own subconscious I am not safe from you!"

Smug Yukari. "Well, the subconscious is the boundary between real and imaginary. Of course, boundaries are my speciality."

"...What do you want? Set it straight!"

"Well." A gap with eyes opened up again. "If you win THIS battle I'm gonna send at you, then I'll bring you back to the real world."

"..."

Yukari head tilted. "Aaaw, staying silent, are we? It's fine. These type of characters are your speciality anyway!"

From the gap of eyes, emerged a green-hair girl with a blue dress.

But most importantly...

Luigi looked at her bottom half and SHIVERED.

Instead of legs, it was a ghost tail.

"A g-g-g-g-g-gGHOST?!" Luigi stepped back.

The ghost got up. "Alright, I got you now, Reimu-"

"..."

Everyone stayed silent and awkwardly stared at the ghost.

Yukari just slid closer to the ghost. "Everyone. This is Mima."

Mima turned to Yukari. "Wait, what's going on?"

Aaaand of course, Yukari had to out her. "So basically, Reimu gets her power from that green man over there and that explains how she keeps resealing you every time, yes?"

Mima furrowed her eyebrows. "You think I'm falling for that?"

"...It also explains why you never saw this man until now. He knows he's the only way to stop you and has been hiding out!"

Mima turned to Luigi.

The green plumber, just sighed. "You're always such a troll, Yukari." He shrugged.

"Yep!" She hid a smirk under her fan. "Anyway, now I shall have you two fight!"

She then disappeared into her gap.

Luigi innocently turned to Mima. "Uuuuh... Hello?"

Mima, however, wasn't having it! She pulled out a staff with a moon at the end.

Luigi clenched his fists... It's him and Mario against a giant ghost...

* * *

Scene cut to... Well, five seconds after the battle was started.

...Mima was then seen chasing a running-away Luigi around a black void of his own subconscious. Mario fizzled out because Luigi's subconscious couldn't process so many things at once. It was now just him at Mima.

"THISGHOSTISWAYTOOSCARYOHMYGODICANTHANDLETHISAMOUNTOFTERRORGODHELPIMSORRY-"

Luigi spoke way too frantically as he tripped over his own foot.

DONK!

He landed flat on his face and his vacuum nozzle bonked his head. "Ow..."

Wait, vacuum nozzle? Luigi craned his neck and saw that the Poltergust was on his back.

His eyes lit up like a child! Now it's time to get Mima back-

Mima thrusted her moon staff at Luigi and he YELPED and rolled to the side. He switched his Poltergust to 'katana' mode and swung at Mima, knocking her back. Using this time wisely, Luigi got up on his feet, evening out the playing field.

Mima laughed. "What? Gonna cry? Gonna pee your pa-"

Mima didn't finish her sentence as Luigi switched back to normal Poltergust mode and stunned her with the Strobulb. He dragged Mima's ghost tail inside his Poltergust and built up enough energy and -

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Mima broke free as she gripped her head in pain. "Owowowowowow..."

Luigi had a massive smile on his face... "It still works!"

Mima turned her head. "What works?!"

He grinned. "What? Gonna cry? Gonna pee your pants maybe? Maybe sh- wait..."

"wait a sec"

Luigi paused to think about it.

"Do ghosts even pee their pants?"

"WHY ARE YOU EVEN ASKING THAT?!"

Mima screamed as she thrusted her moon staff at Luigi as he yelped. He barely dodged. "No, I don't wanna get hit by danmaku again..."

An idea got into his head. Danmaku is a projectile. And what's also a projectile is...

"HIYAH!" He fired a Plunger at Mima, getting it stuck in her face.

Muffled screams of Mima were heard as Luigi dragged her ghost tail again and pulled back.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Mima huffed and exhaled, getting her breath. "Aaagh, what is wrong with my powers here...? They're WEAK compared to what I've been capable of!"

Luigi kept his flashlight ready. "Well, maybe you're getting old!"

"I AM NOT OLD! I still have all my green hair and I still look young! Only thing about me that's old is the fact I'm a gh-"

"Okay boomer!" Luigi interrupted, setting Mima off.

In a fit of rage, she blasted danmaku in a line at him, relentlessly homing in on him.

"AAAAAGH-"

Luigi ran away from the line. Thankfully, they were very basic projectiles.

Mima was infuriated. "WHY ARE MY ATTACKS SO WEAK? AAAAGH-"

She fired a really fast shot at Luigi and, sadly, he took the hit. He got plunged back and clenched his stomach. "Ow... Not again..!"

Time to deliver a payback blow a thousandfold!

He switched to 'katana' mode and Mima gulped.

"H-how are you... not dead..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Luigi swung and sliced Mima, effectively knocking her out. No, literally. she had dizzy star effects over her head.

As soon as Luigi was about to do his victory celebration, in came a gap with eyes.

Yukari emerged.

"Well... you actually did it. Quite quickly and easily too. I'm quite impressed. Well, as promised... I'll bring you back."

Before Luigi could rant at Yukari again, he was sunk into a gap.

* * *

...

...

...

Luigi felt a breeze tickle his mustache.

Is this what air felt like?

He felt another bree-wait, no scratch that!

It was a massive gust! Luigi flinched and opened his eyes, basically squinting...

...Oh... Mokou was here... And she's losing against... what seems to be a new person... an enemy? An enemy?

AN ENEMY?!

Luigi got up and put his Poltergust into 'katana mode'.

He charged blindly at Ichirin. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHH!"

He swung and Ichirin stepped back in surprise.

Everyone turned to Luigi in utter bafflement.

The green plumber was exhaling rapidly.

...then they all questioned at once.

"LUIGI?!"

Yes... It's him, Luigi. And he's back in the game!

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter. The next ones will be a tad longer as we're really getting into the story now.**


	15. The Power Of The Sparks

"Okay, who's gonna be the one to break the news to him?"

Everyone was crowding a confused Luigi in the 'arena' near Human Village.

"Fine, fine." Mokou raised her hands. "I suppose I'll tell him." She then turned to face the green plumber. "You. Do you remember what exactly happened?"

Luigi gained traumatic flashbacks to his brutal beatdown by Yuuka while still sitting down.

"uuuuh..."

He then remembered his loss of limbs during that scuffle and his incoherent screams of agony and suffering.

"..." He looked at his perfectly-intact arms and hands. "I should be dead..."

Mokou pulled out the bottle that Luigi drank. "Remember this 'Youkai Elixr'?"

Luigi nodded.

"WELL it turns out it's actually the Hourai Elixr."

...

Luigi blinked.

"Eh?"

Mokou sighed, twirling the bottle in her palm. "I assume you don't know what that means. Okay, so you know the way that I'm immortal and stuff?"

He nodded again... Then he realised. He gulped heavily. "Please don't tell me-"

"Yep. The Hourai Elixr makes you immortal but still feel the pains!"

"Oh no!" Luigi quaked in fear.

"Luigi!" Mokou called.

"No!" He shook his head while flailing his arms.

"Luigi!" Alice called.

"No!" His jaw was hung open.

"Luigi!" Reimu called.

"No!" He grabbed his hat and hid his cowering face.

"LUIGI!" Red Toad yelled.

Luigi covered his eyes and cried out comically large tears.

They all sigh.

"Luigi!" Mokou called again. "This is actually a blessing! You can save your friends while not worrying about death!"

Luigi shook his head in dismay. "No...! The pain of death is still there! Yuuka proved that!"

"...it's gonna be hard to convince him." Red Toad rolled his eyes. "Alright. Lemme take a shot at it. Oi! Luigi! If you keep moping like that, you're gonna not save Mario!"

Luigi gasped, and instantly went on his feet! "Okie-dokie! I got it!"

Everyone muttered out of Luigi's hearing range.

"He's so easy."

* * *

Reimu folded her arms, as everyone was situated just outside the entrance of the Human Village. Everyone was facing Luigi. Reimu started. "Alright, we got off on the wrong foot since you were captured by Yuuka..." She awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

"It's fine... It's fine." Luigi shook his head dismissively.

Reimu held out her hand. "I'm Reimu Hakurei. Shrine Maiden of Paradise."

Luigi raised his hand and shook it. "I'mma Luigi! Number one!"

Thus bonded the unbreakable protagonist friendship.

"Oh yeah, Luigi!" Red Toad shouted. "It's been, like, a week! Shouldn't your ship be done right about now?"

"Oh, right!" Luigi smacked his own head in ignorance. "I nearly forgot! I'll be going! See you all then!"

Luigi dashed off before E. Gadd could explain he could just use the Pixelator.

* * *

The sound of Luigi's breath overtook his footsteps. He really wasn't up to energy, especially after that run-in with Yuuka.

He wiped his forehead and looked at his glove. Damp with sweat.

His blurry eyes grasped the surroundings. Near the Youkai Mountain again. That's good.

He started to scale up the first slope of the mountain when he tripped and landed stomach-flat.

A distant voice was yelling at someone. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Another voice yelped. "I-I'm sorry. It's just my ability..."

Luigi got up on his feet to see Nitori and a green-hair girl. Luigi tilted his head. "...Have we met before?"

"..." The green hair girl turned to Luigi. "Ah. You're fine. No... we haven't met before, I don't think. My memories are a bit slow today... so, ah, just call me Hina."

"Hina, eh? Nice to meet you."

Nitori jumped a bit. "We're getting sidetracked here! Oi! Luigi!"

"Y-yes?!" He instantly stood to attention.

"I built the ship! It's big! It's massive! It's big enough for a boss fight!"

"..."

Luigi was gone.

Nitori looked up. "Eh? Where'd he go?"

Luigi was seen walking down the mountain. "Welp. I'm out. Done with this. Honestly, I'm not doing any more boss fights. The last time I did, I sucked a tongue."

...Out of context.

"..." Nitori turned to Hina. "Hina, if you would please."

Hina stepped down the mountain to grab Luigi by the collar and drag him back up. "You need to behave yourself."

"Nitori started it!" Luigi whined.

* * *

They were now atop the deep drop of the waterfall.

Luigi's knees were weak, arms heavy, mom's spaghetti.

"Do I have to go down there again?"

The kappa pulled out a remote. "Nope! Stand back, everyone!"

Luigi and Hina both stepped back.

Nitori pushed the big red button on the remote as the ground at the bottom of the waterfall slowly rised up.

Out of fear, Luigi pulled out his flashlight and pointed it towards the hole. And..

Lo and behold, it was a MASSIVE blue-themed ship. It honestly looked bigger than Peach's Castle.

"...All of this for one guy?" Hina jawdropped.

"I... ah hah.." Nitori scratched her own hair. "...may have gone a bit overboard.

"Mama mia.." Luigi barely sputtered out. "...wait."

All the immersion was ruined.

"How are we gonna get this to the ocean?" He turned to Nitori.

"Dammit!" She stomped her foot. "I knew I forgot SOMETHING! If only I had a plot convinience right about now!"

...Luigi's Wii Boo gamepad started to ring.

...Luigi pulled it out. "Hello?"

E. Gadd suddenly had useful information. "Oh boy! It looks like you're stuck, Luigi! Thankfully, I have a plot convinience ready! You see, the Pixelator can also transport large objects such as that ship!"

"Alright, we can move the plot along! Not bad!" Nitori proudly sparkled in joy.

E. Gadd pressed buttons in his lab as Luigi was transported first.

* * *

He landed on his behind. "Ow.." He got up and looked around to see some kind of docks.

"Phew... Must be out there somewhere..."

Something huge was being pixelated in the air above the ocean. The ship manifested and crashed onto the water.

"WAAAAH-!" Luigi turned around and ran away from a big tsunami.

But alas, he was swallowed by a wave.

The wave calmed down before it could harm anyone else and Luigi emerged, covered in seaweed and carrying a dark blue-hair mermaid girl.

"WAGH!" They both scream as the mermaid jumped back into the ocean as Luigi stood there flabbergasted.

He pulled out his flashlight (which still works, thankfully) and aimed it at the ship. It truly was massive. "Wooooah..."

A plank came out from the side of the ship and made it's way toward Luigi.

It shadowed over him. "Uh oh."

He ran in place before finally diving out of the way from an incoming plank drop, said plank leading up to the ship deck.

"ow... Phew..." He got up again, craning his neck to see the deck. "It's huge.."

He slowly got up, his nervous shaking legs making it hard for him.

He finally got up onto the deck, and sure enough, just as Nitori said, it was massive. It could fit the entirety of Toad Town's residents.

"She really went overboard..."

Noises were heard as the ship plank snapped back inside the ship. Luigi yelped. "Ai-!"

The ship automatically started to move. "H-huh?! It's autopilot!"

He ran to the back deck of the ship to see the view, Gensokyo gradually getting smaller.

* * *

Luigi fell asleep, using his two hands as a pillow. Grand as this ship is, it didn't come with bedrooms.

The ship creaked, waking him up. It was now night time. "Huh...? Hello?" He looked up, stars blanketing the purple sky.

Purple. The color of the woman he hates. Waluigi was a secondary concern now.

He walked to the edge of the ship. Water everywhere. Fear of drowning kicked in...

But then he turned to the direction of the front of the ship and he soon found out why the ship stopped.

And there..

was another portrait of a Toad.

"Ah. I got it...!"

The ship moved just enough so the Toad portrait was floating in the middle of the deck.

"Ah-hah!" Luigi reached his arm out to grab it but...

Something swooped in and nabbed it!

"...damn it."

Luigi looked up to see who nabbed it. The Toad painting was floating higher up now. No way he can reach that. Then a voice roared out.

"That ship is huge! Are you overcompensating for something, ze?"

That specific word caught Luigi's attention. He grinned at first to hear a Shrek reference, but then he looked to the side of the painting to see a certain blonde witch. "Marisa!"

"Aaah, you still know me? I'm easy recognisable, yknow? Glad you got that fact in!" She proudly smirked.

Luigi put his right foot forward a bit as he sneered at Marisa. "Give me that! That's really important!"

"Aaaah... No. I'm just gonna borrow this real quick. Hope ya don't mind!"

Luigi sighed. "I've heard rumors that you never return the things you borrow..." He then clenched his fist and spoke up. "Go steal something else instead!"

"Tried. Can't." She shrugged. "Every time I even go to borrow a book from a big mansion, I get into a close shave with a magical eggplant!"

...Magical eggplant? Luigi shook his head. "I have no idea who you refer to. But I need that right now!"

Marisa gripped her broom tighter. "Well, you know what I do Patchy when she doesn't let me borrow stuff? I have a little spar!"

...Patchy? These names were more confusing by the second.

"Well, spar's on, Marisa! Let's see if I can compare a magical eggplant and a magical... lemon! Oooh! Got'em!"

"Ooh, good comeback! Let us see you dodge THIS!" She flew away!

* * *

_**Major Boss: Marisa**_

"Huh? WAAAH-" Luigi screamed as Marisa was charging straight at him from the side. Seeing as she was homing in, the first instinct was to jump.

And so he did, using the Burst. Marisa was unaffected by the wind and flew back up in the air.

"Huh. Fancy that, you dodged my attack at lightning speed."

Luigi pulled out his Strobulb and attempted to flash Marisa.

"That little spark?" She cackled like a witch. "That's not gonna get me from way up here!"

Luigi's idea sparked in his head. He would WAIT until she's down again.

She flew down, but not all the way. She threw a row of red potions as they explode instantly. Luigi noticed the red smoke. Probably don't wanna inhale that even with the Poltergust. Thank goodness they went away shortly after.

Marisa's floating stopped as she shot ice potions at him. Luigi took this chance to change his Poltergust into katana mode and swung at Marisa. The broom got cut a bit as she gasped.

"Hey! Watch the-"

Luigi took no time to quickly change back into regular mode and stunned her with the Strobulb. He pulled the broom this time and literally whacked Marisa on the head with it. "OW OW OW-"

She snatched the broom back and flew up, using her ice potion technique again, but directly above Luigi.

"Eh?! WAHH!" Luigi ran, as the ice magic actually homed in a little.

"Ugh!" She groaned. "This should keep you busy!" She went back to the red potions and as soon as she set her trap, she flew into the background.

"Oh no! She's gonna rush again and I'm trapped! Gooigi! Do something!"

Gooigi spawned from Luigi's tank as he switched to katana mode. He waited until Marisa was close and swung! She was knocked off her broom.

"You're not gonna get me this time!" She spawned rainbow orbs around herself that rotated to act as a weapon. Gooigi dissipated to go back into Luigi's tank.

"Think, think! Oh! Right!" Luigi thought as he backed up from Marisa as he balanced on the edge of the ship. "Eat plunger!"

"MMMMF-" Marisa's face got violated with a plunger as the orbs disappear. Luigi beamed as he gripped the plunger with his hands instead.

To test his strength, he literally used the plunger as a hammer to slam Marisa onto the floor.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt. I'm surprised I have so much strength after Yuuka."

Marisa got up, fuming. "There's no way I'm gonna lose so early so easily!" She pulled out a pink potion and downed it in her mouth. Instantly...

"That was a healing potion, huh..."

"Yep!"

"Dammit... Three more slams!"

Marisa flew up and gripped something important. "Not yet! MASTER SPAAAAARK!"

"oh no"

Marisa suddenly fired a laser beam of RAINBOWS that basically cut the ship in HALF.

"To show you the power of my Master Spark, I beamed this boat in half! Now come at me!" She charged at Luigi as Luigi went into katana mode.

She kept bashing as Luigi kept slashing, Marisa attempting to fly in different angles but Luigi kept backing her out, chipping away at her HP.

How was Luigi able to keep up? There was a Toad's life on the line. His eyebrows lowered as he gazed at Marisa with his Poltergust in her broom.

"Please don't."

But it was too late. Luigi hauled her over and slammed her into the wooden floor. Comically, stars were circling around her head.

He did it.

He actually did it.

The nightmares of the second arc was done... He threw his hat high up in the air. "OH HO..."

And caught it.

"YEAH!"

_**Major Boss DEFEATED!**_

"Okay, okay...!" Luigi balanced. The ship was still large enough while cut in half. The Toad painting was now floating in the middle.

Luigi, for SURE, used his Dark Light device and slowly but surely...

A Toad fell out. But it wasn't Red Toad, it was different, with blue polkadots on his mushroom hat instead of red. The blue shirt was still there.

"Wagh- WAAAGH!" Blue Toad screamed as Luigi caught him in his arms. "N-nooo! Don't turn me into a painting again, K-" He looked up. "Luigi! It's you! YEEES!" He jumped down and clinged to Luigi's leg. "Where are we?"

"We're on a ship!"

"You saved me on a ship! You know what that means!"

They raised their fists up in the air.

"YAAARRR HAAAARRR!" They cheered.

* * *

_Yep, the two unknown figures were still talking to each other_

_"I've tried THREE times. This for sure is going to work. It's another dimension entirely."_

_"I don't know..."_

_"I know. You're staying in there anyway. I'm done with you."_

* * *

**Arc 2 done! When there's an arc done, there's review reviews!**

**VolcanicFlare: Yep. Reimu is just Reimu. Since the PC-98 eras she's known to not give a fuck.**

**Entityman: If anything Chapter 12 taught you... no... Luigi is never safe.**

**Guest: ...geez im updating keep calm**

**Yuderu: Yep. Screwed.**

**Guest: uuuh... The two ghosties? They'd make the most sense, but I don't wanna give spoilers away... (yes, they're in it)**

**Yuderu: Yep. Screwed. Told ya so.**

**VolcanicFlare: this is only the beginning :)**

**T: In my darkest minds... there's something haunting me... The thing that haunts me is... Giving the green light to Chapter 12!**

**James Birdsong: I think I'm updating too fast. And then I procrastinate!**

**Megan: Yippeee!... that's a good thing, right?**


	16. Pulling The Strings

"Hey, look!" Luigi pointed next to the lying body of Marisa. "It's a potion of some sort! I bet that's a key item for the teleporter! Thanks, magician..."

Luigi slowly bent down to pick up the potion, but something - or someONE swiped in to nab it!"

"..Of course it's never THAT easy..."

Luigi turned to the culprit. A brown-hair cat with two tails. Luigi recognised her... "Hey... aren't you... Chen?"

"Yesh! It's me, Chen! And Yukari-sama said you can't have it! So back off now and lemme go back!"

"Nononono! Nice kitty, now hand it over..." Luigi beckoned with his fingers.

"HISSSSSS!"

Chen suddenly had large fangs and threatening purple eyes.

Luigi squealed. Those eyes weren't normal!... oh yeah, and the teeth too.

"AH!" Luigi jumped back in response. Blue Toad was even more scared (surprisingly) and hid behind Luigi.

He clenched his fist. "Give me back that key item! NOW!" He practically demanded.

Chen floated up using regular Touhou logic to float and fly away.

Luigi growled. "Curse you, Chen..."

Blue Toad walked next to Luigi. "Well, we cant sit down and do nothing! Let's set sail and catch that feline!"

"Aye-aye!" Luigi saluted and pressed a button on the ship as it started to move back to land. Yes, the ship has buttons to move. Nitori in a nutshell.

* * *

A wooden plank came into view. Perfect for Luigi to hop on. He jumped on the dock and caught Blue Toad in his arms. Luigi turned around to go back into Gensokyo, then heard the ship creaking. He turned around just to see someone in a sailor outfit sinking it.

"AAAAH!" Luigi and Blue Toad both screamed as they both got OUT of there.

Luigi was still carrying Blue Toad as they made their way up a steep incline.

They stopped just before a huge ravine, catching their breath. "Hooh..." Luigi wiped some sweat. "THAT was a close call..."

He peered down the ravine. Pipes. "We're back at Nitori's place? What are the odds..."

And then, someone busted out of their workshop. Nitori herself! "Hey! Luigi! About time! I was brainstorming ideas for your dingy little vacuum there!"

Luigi turned his head to the Poltergust and spoke to it as if it were actually alive. "She didn't mean that, baby, no she didn't..."

He then turned to Nitori. "Alright, what is it." He took his Poltergust off and handed it over.

"You complied rather quickly! Just gimmie a tick." She ran into the workshop as whirring and machinery were heard.

Blue Toad raised an... eyebrow. If he even has any. "You know her?"

"Female E. Gadd. That's all I'm gonna say." He shook his hand dismissively.

Nitori peeked out. "Hey, you can come in, if you want!"

"We can?" Luigi turned. "Pardon the intrusion then..."

Luigi and Blue Toad entered the little workshop.

Small note to canon here, Nitori has a small wooden workshop to cover up her massive one in the ravine. But it doesn't matter - as she likes to brag about it a lot. Showoff.

* * *

It was a small room, with a table, blueprints on said table, a cooling fan, a working TV as well as other nifty gadgets.

"Aaaah..." Luigi was already in front of the cooling fan, taking in all the artificial air it produced.

Nitori set the Poltergust on the workbench as she turned her head to Luigi. "Why are you using the fan? It's not even that warm - Heck! The winter season's approaching too!"

"Had to run from a danger..." Blue Toad covered for Luigi.

"I see." Nitori sighed. "Shouldn't have asked. Well, just don't hog it."

As Luigi was taking in the air, he turned back to Nitori to see her working on the Poltergust. "Nitori. I have a question."

She didn't turn, but simply stated: "Go ahead."

He had one question in mind. Reimu's mentions of 'incidents' are basically disasters in this world... And Chen had purple eyes for a brief second - so...

"Have you seen anyone who had purple eyes for a brief period?"

"Hmm..." Nitori thought. Luigi could see that she was slower on her work when he asked that question.

"Dodgy subject?" He asked. "I'm sorry-"

"I have, actually. Hina had them for a bit, then she wakes up with her normal eyes as if nothing ever happened..."

Luigi clicked it all together. During his blur after waking up from his husk phase, he attacked Ichirin... And she had purple eyes too. When everyone explained the concept of the Hourai Elixr to Luigi, her eyes were blue.

An interesting puzzle, indeed.

Nitori was Luigi's prime source of knowledge, so he kept asking.

"How did E. Gadd know about our battle?"

"Aaaah... I knew something was up. I had some communications jammed, so I peeked around - and there's cameras everywhere! I bet this 'E Gadd' you're referring to has them set up!"

Luigi had an unamused stare. "Bruh." Overprotective, much? "Ooookay? Then do you know where the next portrait is?"

"The what now?"

Oh yeah. Luigi forgot. He wasn't speaking to E. Gadd.

Nitori shook her head. "Eh, I don't wanna dive into it. Regardless... It is done!" She wiped sweat off her forehead, proud of her work.

She held it up like a prized item.

Luigi blinked. "I don't see anything different."

"...Really? Have you learned NOTHING from last time?! It's very different! I'm sure you'll see the new feature when you're out battling those bosses!"

"Dammit..." Luigi bit his lip. "I totally forgot about the boss fights - and Chen!" He smacked himself in the face. "Come on, Blue Toad! We gotta go."

Luigi sprinted out of the door, carrying Blue Toad with him. But Luigi peeked back in and gave him a thumbs up. "Nitori! Thank you!" He then went back to running.

* * *

"Dammit!" He kept sprinting. "Where'd that damn cat go?!"

Blue Toad remembered. "Luigi! Don't you have a Dark Light?!"

Oh! Right! FINALLY, a use for that function! Luigi nodded and whipped out his Dark Light, a rainbow hue on the floor. He saw some footprints.

"Despite the different rules here, Chen can't hide from the light..." He aimed his flashlight. "Straight ahead!"

He sprinted, with Red Toad right behind him.

"Found a good wide open area, perfect for a-"

Luigi tripped on something.

"WAH-!"

Blue Toad screeched to a halt. "Luigi!"

Luigi tumbled down, feeling the sharp pain of every rock he collided against. "Agh! OW!"

The rocks even scraped his face, as he closed his eyes to not get stabbed in the eye.

He finally landed, his eyes opening, thank goodness they weren't hit.

"Ow... Owowowowowoow...!" Luigi winced in pain.

He helplessly got his Poltergust off his back and turned around on his back, looking at his wounds. Scratch marks on his belly, as well as various bruises all around. "Ooooow..."

Luigi's pain was the only thing he could vocalise. Those scratch marks didn't look like they came from the rocks... But rather, claws...

Cat claws.

"Did Chen...?"

"I did!"

Luigi noticed that voice, but was too much in pain to notice it. He rolled over on his stomach side again, his belly scalding in pain. And sure enough...

There was Chen.

Luigi's wounds already started to heal thanks to the Hourai Elixr, as he slowly staggered his way up, grabbing his Poltergust.

"You... but why...?" Luigi couldn't understand.

"Ran-sama said I should not trust green giant-nose goblins! And here you are! So I can't give anything to ya!"

Luigi tilted his head. "Okay? How do you explain the sharp teeth and purple eyes? And the claws?"

"Oh, these?" Chen held her hand up. Sure enough, her fingers grew sharp claws. "I had these the entire time." She grinned with sharp teeth, showing purple eyes again.

Luigi had fear at first, but it turned into pure anger. "Cut the crap, Chen! HAND IT OVER!"

Chen yelped, showing her normal eyes. "A-ah! What'd I do?!"

Luigi found the new button that Nitori installed. A hammer appeared out of the vacuum nozzle. In other words, he can use the Poltergust as a hammer!

"Give it up!" Luigi swung his hammer, and Chen dropped the potion and ran away crying.

"That's right!" Luigi grinned. "Run back to Yukari!"

Blue Toad peeked out from a tree in fear. "Luigi... you're scaring me."

"If it's to get my key item back, I don't care."

Luigi grabbed the potion and stuffed it in his pocket.

He noticed something VERY odd... "Wait... This is the same arena I had faced that crow tengu in..."

He walked down a bit, and went into an oddly specific tropical area in the mountain. A nice lush greenery area, with a bath with steam coming out.

"A hot springs? In the mountain? Never saw that before." He inspected it.

He then backed up, and saw a security camera. Thankfully, looking away from the hot springs. "Thank goodness. I didn't want a fanservice hot spring episode this early on..."

He tapped the camera lightly. The camera head turning to Luigi. He waved at the camera and gave a thumbs up.

Instantly, the camera whirred to life, and brought Luigi and Blue Toad inside. He realised too late - it was a Pixelator.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-"

Luigi gets mentally traumatised by inter-dimensional travelling: the fanfiction.

* * *

Luigi screeched to a halt, his soles clinging to the metal floors of the now-present lab. His vision was a spiral as he handed the potion to E. Gadd.

"Take this, find the next portrait, and let me get some rest..."

Luigi immediately booked it to Alice's house to sit down before he inevitably collapses.

* * *

Luigi bursted in, kicking off his shoes, getting his Poltergust off his back and laying down on the bed. "Aaah... Much better!"

Alice blinked. "Welcome back, by the way."

"I'm not resting just yet, though." Luigi kept his eyes wide open. "I've got a LOT of questions that need answering..."

"...I see... Alright, I'll try to answer them." Alice was sitting still on her table, while sipping tea.

Luigi folded his arms and wrapped them around his knees as he sat up. "First and foremost, what do you know about people's eyes suddenly turning purple?"

"I've heard of it - and I saw it one time... with Ichirin." She stopped sipping her teacup as she went into thought. "But I've never delved into that concerning thought - until you brought it up. It could be bad - it could even be a bigger incident than your arrival."

"I see... I suppose that's pretty bad."

Just what was this? People getting purple eye contacts just to spook him? There were two people he hated to death with purple eyes - his arch nemesis, King Boo, and now Yukari.

"Wait, no..." Luigi corrected himself. "It's REALLY bad... It might be something even more."

Luigi just remembered his painful experience that happened a few moments ago.

"That damn cat... She grew claws and scratched at me... I don't think that's normal..." He then spoke up to Alice again. "What about that blue-theme girl that I randomly attacked?"

"Ichirin? Uhmm.. What about her?"

"What about her was so strange lately?"

Alice clicked it in her brain. "I've heard Mokou complaining that she got a LOT stronger during that 'fight'... I laughed it off and told her she just needed to get stronger... but.."

"Hm." Luigi thought.

"Ichirin also told me she was completely out of energy after."

Luigi tried to fit the puzzle in his tiny brain, but came up with a billion more questions in his mind. So naturally, he told Alice the most pressing thought on his mind. "Alright, and why does Marisa have a shop in town?"

"O-oh..." Alice stuttered. "She usually has one in the forest, but there's only one reason why she would set up shop in town..."

"And that is?"

"Money."

Luigi facepalmed. "Walked right into that one..."

He then tucked himself in the bed blanket. "Whatever. I'm gonna think that over when I wake up."

Alice turned to the window. "But it's daytime."

"It's called a nap." Luigi eventually closed his eyes.

But before he drifted into unconsciousness, he had a few worrying thoughts on his mind.

_"A nap? When was the last time I had that?"_

_"Oh yeah, back on the bus ride from the Last Resort..."_

* * *

Luigi woke up... in the Dream World.

A lot of conscious thoughts rushing through his thoughts. "Agh! What is..."

Through Luigi's haze, he saw something within the spiral of conscious thoughts.

A portrait of a Toad.

* * *

And then Luigi woke up in a cold sweat. It was still daytime... Wait, no, he saw Alice sleeping.

Did he manage to skip a whole day? Impressive for him... but...

"I need to tell E. Gadd. Right now."

Luigi booked it out of the house again without eating breakfast.

He bursted into E. Gadd's lab, the professor already hard at work, with the two Toads eating ice cream.

E. Gadd turned. "Oh, Luigi. Aaaah, funny story, I cannot find the next portrait. But I already put the key item in the slot, so-"

"I know where the next portrait is." Luigi interrupted.

"Ah, you do? Great! Let me launch the Pixelator, and send you to it's location-"

Then Luigi uttered something that would be impossible for E. Gadd.

"It's in the Dream World."


	17. Yonder Three

E. Gadd simply stared, flabbergasted at Luigi. Luigi's expression remained serious, glaring at the professor.

"Luigi... care to utter what you just said... But slower?"

Luigi repeated himself. "I know the location of the next portrait. It's in the Dream World. I need to be in the Dream World."

"...You know, Luigi..." E. Gadd got off his chair. "Perhaps we should talk this out in Alice's home."

"I'll... uh... bring a safety measure to keep me safe in my dreams..." Luigi set up the coordinates of the Pixelator himself. "Alrighty! See ya on the other side!"

* * *

Interdimension plots; I lost count how many times...

* * *

Luigi landed straight outside the Human Village, immediately walking in. "I don't understand what the logic is that the next one's in the Dream World... Whoever's torturing me this way must really be getting a kick out of it."

He felt his back.

"Ah, I forgot my Poltergust. Let's just hope I don't stumble into any more flower fields."

Luigi ran through the village, in a nervous sweat. GOD, he would hope he wouldn't run into Yuuka.

He ran past Marisa's shop... "So, that magician is just desperate for money, huh? Reminds me of a certain shrine maiden.."

He kept running, as he turned his back to where he was looking, running right smack into someone, knocking him onto his butt.

"O-ow..." He looked at this feet, to see a head lying there. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-"

The head floated up and landed on a familiar girl.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-Oh, it's just YOU, Sekibanki." Luigi put his fists onto his hips and glared at her.

"Geez, Luigi... You should stop screaming... It'll attract unwanted attention." She rubbed her head. "At least nobody saw me being headless."

Luigi shook his head. "I need to get to Reimu."

"I know, I know." Sekibanki raised her hands in a surrender pose. "Just... be... careful..." She started shivering in fear.

"..." Luigi gulped. "There's someone right behind me, isn't there?"

Sekibanki nodded... "Ah... Ah..." Luigi couldn't see Sekibanki's mouth, but she just ran away in fear. "LUIGI, RUN!"

Luigi slowly turned to meet...

Another girl with short red hair. But this time her hat choice was...

Luigi squinted. Did she have a PLANET for a hat? Luigi looked at her arms, and they were holding two other planets that looked like the Earth and the Moon.

Then her fashion outfit choice... Just... a simple T-Shirt that said 'WELCOME HELL' on it...

And her legs, well... uh... they wore nothing. Barefoot it is, then.

"..." Luigi turned to face the girl, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing this correctly...

No, wait, Sekibanki definitely saw it. "Alright, you terrified me! Who are-"

He opened his eyes to find the girl gone.

"...Huh." He blinked. She was definitely there, she was definitely real. It couldn't have been a hallucination.

It seemed like a harmless interaction, but Luigi felt this overwhelming dread on his shoulders, heaver than what any Poltergust can handle. He should've heeded Sekibanki's warnings and run. Speaking of run...

He ran up to the shrine... Panting and wheezing. "What... Who was that? A hard boss fight that I'd have the pleasure of annihilating...?"

Luigi realised.

Dramatic thunder storm.

"Wait... I've been going around, telling people to not take things out of context... But my own worse enemy... is... me!"

He was about to fall to his knees, but he shook his head. "Drama can wait for later... Grgh!" He clenched his palm into a fist as he knocked on the shrine door.

And there was a cold harsh voice that Luigi expected. Reimu. "Nobody's home."

"...You literally just answered, though." Luigi deadpanned.

"I'm in the shower." Reimu retorted.

"You're broke as hell -" Luigi came back, using a genius pun he learned from that weird girl's T-Shirt. "- you don't have a shower."

"Huh. Usually, when I say that excuse to a guy, they'd just open the door immediately. Uuuuh..." She looked for another excuse not to let him in. "How do you explain my smell then?"

"Are you implying I sniff you?" Luigi went red in the face a bit.

"...Do you?"

"Absolutely not. Apparently, you sweat a lot when travelling and battling." Back to being calm.

"I swear to GOD, I'm gonna kill Marisa for spoiling that."

"Marisa didn't tell me, I just sorta made a guess." He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm gonna kill you then."

"Can't. Hourai Elixr. Plus I don't wanna be traumatized again."

"God, just go away, Luigi!" Reimu was in her tsundere mode. Luigi peeked into her donation box while she was ranting. Empty. Maybe that's why she's cranky right now. "Are you in love with me or something?"

"You can't fall in love with someone you just met." Luigi spat out something familiar. "And I wouldn't anyway. I love Daisy."

"Who's Daisy?"

"Someone who's not you." Ooooh snap!

Reimu growled. Luigi took a step back from the door. Reimu made her final excuse. "Shoo, Luigi."

Time to bait her.

"I have food!"

Rustling was heard inside the shrine as the door opened, showing a cheery Reimu's face. "Come on in!"

...Finally, that useless bickering ended. But Luigi raised his palm. "I actually need you at Alice's house. Don't worry, I know a quick method to get there."

"...So you don't have food?" Reimu folded her arms.

"I-"

Door shut in Luigi's face. Reimu literally went back inside.

"..."

Luigi knocked on the door.

"I'm in the shower!" Reimu replied.

"..." He sighed. He literally opened the shrine doors himself and grabbed Reimu by the back of the collar.

"E-eh?!" Reimu was surprised. "So you DO open the door when I say I'm in the shower!"

"We're going. To Alice's house." Luigi was just as angry as Reimu as he dragged her along.

"Grrr... She better have food there..."

Luigi went through the entire Human Village and then outside. He tapped the Pixelator camera with his glove, and then they were zapped.

* * *

Interdimensional travels; Collision Course.

* * *

They landed right outside E. Gadd's lab. Outside, mind you.

Reimu looked around. "It's awfully dark..."

Luigi looked up at the sky. "That's because..."

Lightning strike in the distance! It was now pouring rain.

Reimu groaned. "Great. Now you made me wet."

"..." Luigi glared at Reimu.

"...by being out in the rain too long. Come on, let's get inside."

Luigi nodded as both he and Reimu went inside Alice's house.

Reimu went in first as Luigi slammed the door behind him, panting.

Everyone looked at the two. Luigi pointed at Reimu. "Got my... safety measure..."

The house was... a little busy. Alice, E. Gadd, the two Toads, and of course, Luigi and Reimu.

Luigi was the first to point it out. "Isn't this house a little crowded?"

Alice simply dismissed it. "It's nothing. When I'm alone, it's a pretty big house."

E. Gadd stared at Luigi. "So, Luigi, you wanna explain yourself to the entire gang?"

All eyes on Luigi. No pressure... "Aaaalright... Uh... you two Toads."

Red Toad raised his hand. "Oh, that's me!"

"I know where your friend, Yellow Toad, is."

"You do?!" Both Toads exclaimed.

"Buuuuut he's in the Dream World."

"...wuh." They both stared.

Luigi turned to the bed. "I'm gonna be THERE for a while... Hopefully I'll, like, lucid dream or something."

"Wait!" E. Gadd pointed his finger up. "Just a second! I don't think you can bring anything from the dreams into reality!"

Luigi thought to himself.

E. Gadd continued. "We'd need someone physical here to go inside the Dream World. Almost like a portal."

Luigi remembered! "That's IT!"

Everyone turned to Luigi in hopes.

"There was this one island that me and my bro went to. Pi'llo Island! I could sleep on a pillow and open up a dream portal for my bro to hop in!"

...Everyone was confused.

"Oh... right. None of you were there." He scratched his head awkwardly. "Uuuh... I need someone strong and capable to jump into the Dream World to help me."

Everyone turned to Reimu.

She sighed. "What? Why does everyone treat me like a main protagonist? Fine, I'll go in.. Not like I can go outside anyway..."

Thunder boomed after she said that, indicating she was right.

E. Gadd looked outside. "Yeah, it sorta just came down all of a sudden. It's unnatural. Almost as if it were caused on purpose."

Luigi derped out. "Wait, so it wasn't just some comical timing to my demise?"

"Demise? Uuuh, nope... I'll try to look into it..." E. Gadd made a mental note to himself.

Luigi looked at everyone who was staring at him.

"I really gotta do this, huh..."

They all nodded at the same time.

Luigi hopped on the bed regardless and closed his eyes.

...

...

...

Reimu looked at her imaginary watch.

...

...

...

Alice sipped tea.

...

...

...

Blue Toad coughed.

...

...

...

Reimu eventually got agitated. "Why isn't it working?! Are you LYING, Luigi?!"

Luigi spoke while his eyes were still closed. "I can't sleep."

Everyone sighed.

Reimu put her hands on her hips. "What? You need a lap pillow?"

"Would love to, but you're the one getting into the Dream World with me... plus I'd like my head to be _comfortable_."

"Ouch." Reimu groaned. "Another sharp insult." She grabbed Alice's pillow. "In fact, I've got something to hurt you back!"

"But that level of immaturity can only be achieved by Maris-"

Luigi felt his head getting slammed by a pillow, knocking him out.

Alice looked at Reimu, shocked. "Did you really have to throw that with such force? The same force you use to exterminate youkais?"

"It worked." Reimu glared.

Then a bright beam of light blinded the entire room.

"Ah! Look!" Red Toad pointed, and nobody could believe the sight.

A giant, cloud-shaped rainbow portal was above Luigi's head!

E. Gadd pulled out his camera and took a snapshot. "I definitely need to study this at the lab."

Alice pointed at the portal. "Reimu!"

Reimu nodded, holding her purification stick. "I'm ready. I'm going in!"

Red Toad sighed. "If Luigi were awake, he'd tell you to rephrase!"

Reimu jumped in, ignoring Red Toad's remark.

* * *

A mass cloud of fluffiness wrapped Reimu in a gentle hug. A rainbow set of clouds...

"Ah... The Dream World."

She swam to another rainbow portal, going deep within.

Grass formed below Reimu's feet, allowing for a safe and comforting landing. The only thing odd about this was the rainbow cloudy sky.

"So, this is Luigi's dreams? It's already all Gensokyo... Did he forget his old home?"

A green light sparked behind Reimu. She turned with her purification stick to find... Luigi!

"...Eh?" She eased her grip. "..So, Luigi... You ARE here?"

"Yeah! Wait..." Luigi thought. "Ooooh, the sky's weird. Yep! It's-a-me, Dreamy Luigi!" He posed.

"...You look the same."

"Ah-ah!" Luigi raised his finger and waved it like a classic blue hedgehog. "I'm taller, and handsomer! Although I'm already handsome in the real world."

"...no you aren't." Reimu put it bluntly.

"He is." A voice spoke up.

"Thank you!" Luigi closed his eyes and smirked. "Wait, who spoke just now?"

The voice continued. "I'll explain later. But first, I gotta give you something that'll balance out my fun."

Another portal opened up and Luigi was forced into it, immediately closing behind him.

* * *

Well, there goes the option of Reimu's help.

Luigi landed on the floor.

"Ow..."

He got up, and looked around. It was the same grass field, without Reimu.

"Great... Now I'm all alone."

"You have me!" The voice spoke again. Luigi turned to it and found a smug face looking right at him.

During Luigi's inevitable panicking, he stepped back to see an overly long hat, and poofy clothing, mostly made of cotton. "Nice to meet you! I'm Doremy Sweet."

"...Doremy?" Luigi blinked.

"Mmmhmm!" She nodded. "And you're Luigi!"

Luigi started to move his mouth on how she knows his name, but she explained for him.

"You see, I've been watching you in your dreams. You're the best incident that's happened in a long time, you know? So naturally, I basked myself in knowledge about you! I also know why you're here. To rescue a friend?"

Luigi nodded.

"Well, there's no Poltergust for starters, sooo you're kinda already stuck!"

He groaned, half-asleep expression. "Do not mock me, Doremy. I'm powerful even without it."

"Oooh, against people who live in Gensokyo?" She went even more smug. "I doubt that very much. But still! You want to save your friend, and I want to play, let's make a way around this."

Luigi rolled his eyes. "Defeat the boss, rescue the friend, go back."

"...TECHNICALLY true... Buuuut!"

She clicked her fingers, as three portals opened.

"Pass three trials of past, present and future, and I'll grant you access to fight me!" She also thought. "Oh, right! You might want somebody to comfort you when you inevitably fail these trials." She teased, then another finger click.

A dreamy cloud started to form into a human figure, as it eventually turned into that. A human. The human's features were...

"..." Luigi gaped. "A... maid."

A maid, with a blue maid outfit, and short yellow hair with yellow eyes.

Doremy waved. "Tah tah! Have fun!" She disappeared.

Luigi and the maid awkwardly looked at each other.

"...Greetings.." The maid spoke first. "Uhm, I'm Mugetsu. I'm a dream world demon maid."

"...I'm Luigi..." Luigi awkwardly greeted back.

...They both awkwardly look at each other. Again.

"..." Luigi pointed to one of the Dream Portals. "I should just jump in."

"...Yeah, you should." Mugetsu nodded.

Luigi felt behind his back. Truly no Poltergust. "...here goes."

He then jumped in.

...And then he felt freezing cold.


	18. Past Unmasked

_...First, a humiliating past._

_Luigi woke up, standing still. That's weird. He usually never falls asleep standing still._

_He looked at what was in front of him... Wait... was that..._

_...Mario?!_

_It was Mario, none the less..._

_No, this was a trial... It was not really Mario..._

_Mario seemed to be holding some rainbow jigsaw pieces in his hand. 10 of them._

_Next to Mario was a floating yellow Bob-omb type figure with a star atop their head..._

_Wait... Was that Starlow too?!_

_He glanced to his right... Frozen alien creatures..._

_He shrank in pure fear. The Shroobs. That was a horrifying experience to go through... But why was he at this point in time?_

_Starlow turned to Mario. "Whew... That was pretty scary... Alien invasions are no fun!"_

_Yep... Luigi knew that firsthand. Wait... Don't tell him..._

_Starlow continued. "What I can't believe is that you defeated those things as a baby! Only you could do that, Mario!"_

_...Oh. Oh no. Luigi bit his lip. Does he really have to re-enact this scene? This scene..._

_...where the helper was at her lowest scum moment?_

_Luigi jumped into action. Remembering his line, he spoke. "Hey, I helped Mario, you know!"_

_Mario turned to Starlow and also spoke. "Yeah, he fought-a pretty hard!"_

_"Hm?" Starlow questioned. "Luigi fought hard as well?"_

_"Yeah!" Luigi jumped. "I was like boom, then bam! I helped defeat those aliens along with Mario! Hah! Hah!" Luigi pointed both directions. "Nobody could stand a chance against us!"_

_...And then... Luigi knew it. The very same line that nearly broke him._

_"Heehee! Did you attack them with some ferocious crying?"_

_Luigi simply turned away from them, bending his knees to look at the floor. He picked the floor with his finger as he was truly lost in thought. Why did Doremy bring him here? And why was it at this point in time where an ally was mocking him? Trial her ass! This is just torment! To be honest? What has he done recently?  
_

_Cried over some ridiciously hard bosses in Gensokyo?_

_Cried over seeing his brother safe from his first mansion experience? Why did he cry there? Was he just crying tears of joy to see Mario...? Or was he crying because of his own incompetence to handle this simplest of tasks?_

_Cried over running away from Yuuka? Because he was nothing without a Poltergust?_

_Cried to Reimu about helping him? Because he's not strong enough to face Yukari alone?_

_Cried because - No..._

_Ever since he could remember, he had always been a crybaby._

_A wimp. A coward._

_Staying in his brother's shadow._

_That was all he had. Luigi sometimes wish he could legitimately become the shadow of Mario. To simply just do whatever he does, in a reflected sunlight. To simply run away without any thoughts, and just simply be a shadow of the hero who deserved better._

_That was his best option... So why hadn't he considered it before?_

_"Hold on!" Mario spoke angrily at Starlow. "I'm-a not allowing you to diss-a my brother like that!"_

_"...Huh?" Luigi thought to himself, without turning around._

_"In-a actuality, he was the one to defeat them in-a the end!"_

_"...Really? Luigi was the one to defeat them in the end?"_

_"Uh-huh!" Mario nodded. He seemed to really stand up for his little brother._

_"...Really?!"_

_"Yep! Don't-a underestimate him!"_

_"Oh... I'm sorry, Luigi. You really are super."_

_Luigi turned around, and posed. "All is forgiven!"_

_"Yes, you're both super. Now, let's get on with our quest!"_

_Starlow went back into Mario's pocket space, as Luigi looked a little down._

* * *

_Dreams. A weird phenomenon that nobody knows how it works... One's own memories stuffed inside a fictional scenario when the user sleeps..._

_But something odd seemed to play out in this specific scene... Not exactly how Luigi remembered it..._

_Because Mario and Luigi were sitting on Plack Beach, with Starlow nowhere in sight._

_"Hey bro... You look kinda down..." Mario looked to Luigi. "You-a wanna talk about it or-a something? Starlow won't be-a back for a while."_

_"...To be honest? Yeah. I've got a lot on my mind."_

_A lot on his mind that he couldn't really tell Mario at this moment in time. Crazed gap hags, murderous flower ladies, and a whole lot of boss fights, with Luigi using crying in the end due to the mere fact he SURVIVED._

_Let's just focus on one thing at a time... That was a good thought._

_"Hee hee!" Mario chuckled. "Don't-a worry! You can tell me! I am-a the older bro after all!"_

_"..."_

_Luigi gulped._

_"Well... I've been thinking about the past ever since Starlow humilated me..."_

_Mario sighed. "She said she was-a sorry, but I do understand-a you. That was a bit too-a far..."_

_"No, Mario. Way beyond what you could think."_

_Mario went 'huh'... and Luigi needed to explain how far back he had been thinking._

_"Like, since the day I was born. That's how far back I've been thinking."_

_"Tell me... Tell me please, Luigi." Mario looked at him._

_And thus, began Luigi's backstory._

* * *

_This was Luigi._

_He had been chosen to be summoned to Gensokyo._

_Him, out of all the possible male-self-inserts, had been chosen, and he was not a self-insert._

_He was just Mario's loving younger brother._

_But he didn't always love Mario. Siblings do have their rivalry now and again._

_He would always bicker with Mario when flipping turtles and crabs... And they would compete to see who had the most points there._

_He would always be the SECOND person on the first grand adventure they ever had._

_Luigi was not even informed of Mario going on vacation on Isle Delfino. He was just left at his newly built mansion._

_And sure enough, Mario saved the entirety of Isle Delfino. Another group that would endlessly praise Mario and not Luigi._

_Sure, Luigi helped rescue Mario in the first mansion experience, but who was an eyewitness to that?_

_...Oh. Right. Only one. E. Gadd._

_What about that one Galaxy experience, huh? Luigi managed to get a few Power Stars... but he got all dizzy and woozy from finally being helpful to his brother... that he could not get down from the simplest of places, or even get trapped in some places. He humilated himself in front of his brother._

_Time and time again. There were even times were they had full-out rivalries._

_Collecting a bunch of Power Stars for themselves, using items from a roulette to help them, such as Mini Mushrooms, Mega Mushrooms, and even Starmen._

_Or those intense soccer games where the fence was electric? People would assume those were "friendly spars", but Mario and himself were a lot more angry and serious with each other._

_Or perhaps Mario would LITERALLY fall asleep during Luigi's talks about his own adventure in the Waffle Kingdom?_

_Or in those Smash Bros. tournaments, where Mario would launch Luigi_

_time_

_and_

_time_

_again._

_..._

_Then he realised. It wasn't just Mario who he had a vendetta against._

_Starlow... Well, her example was shown earlier, with her mocking Luigi._

_That one Toad who went all "Oh. Luigi's here too. Super."_

_That one Rabbid robot that couldn't even remember his name._

_A certain tennis racket that had a knack for possessing him._

_..._

_But above all?_

_The person who he hated most?_

_The guy who got tricked into a luxury mansion... twice._

_The fool who had to restore the Dark Moon because nobody else was available._

_And the person who made him so unlikable in the first place._

_Oh. That's right... Himself._

* * *

_"Oh, so that's-a it?" Mario thought. "You just-a hate yourself because of some-a unlucky incidents and friendly-a spars?"_

_"Mario..." Luigi quietly sobbed. "I've had these thoughts for a long time... Time and time again... I'm the punchline. It really was not fair... for me. At all._

_I've tried so hard to make you proud as a little brother._

_A little brother worthy of being the little brother of Jumpman himself._

_So what the hell am I doing wrong?!_

_Even as a baby... I remember that time too..._

_I was carried by a stork... Not even my birth parents wanted me... And then I was the one captured by Kamek!_

_Me, of all people!_

_But why...?_

_Why do you all hate me so much...?!_

_I wanna know..."_

_Mario took this all in as Luigi ranted about his life. As Mario got up on his feet, he walked up to Luigi and spoke his inner thoughts, this dream finally becoming reality._

"I know." Mario hugged Luigi.

"You... know?" Luigi looked up at Mario with tears in his eyes.

"I do know... one-a thing." Mario nodded. "Despite how you think-a everyone hates you, the only one I love-a more than Peach is-a my big bro."

"Huh...?"

"Nobody can-a replace you, Luigi. You're the bestest-a bro anyone could ever ask for!"

"Mario, I..."

"You-a hate yourself? I'll always love you even more as a sibling. A little-a brother that even I could-a look up to. Despite my-a cold dead serious glare, I'm-a sometimes terrified inside."

...And then Luigi fully opened his eyes, finally realising the truth.

He wasn't crying laughing at his own incompetence, he was just so happy that Mario had been rescued.

That wasn't a serious rivalry on who could get the most Power Stars, that was just friendly banter.

Luigi was always chosen second on the grand adventures... Because Mario wanted to be on the frontlines to protect his brother.

Mario falling asleep during Luigi's stories wasn't ignorance, he was just resting from his own adventure.

And after all, who could forget the quote that always brightens up Luigi's day?

_"That's my bro!"_

That line. That line right there.

Speaking of being brightened, this trial meant nothing to him now. He had overcome his own inner demons of the past. Loathing himself and his brother were now unacceptable.

Luigi stood up and looked at Mario. Now understanding the exact scenario, he nodded to Mario. "Come on! Let's go stop Fawful!"

Mario got up on his feet too, and spoke the line Luigi wanted to hear again. "That's my bro!"

Luigi ran on ahead to Peach's Castle, but the world around him started to fade, into a black starry abyss.

* * *

Space?

Suddenly, space, apparently.

Luigi was floating in space as he looked around. "Did I pass the first trial?"

He noticed some text on his right. Luigi craned his head to the right to read it.

**Luigi was not the Impostor.  
1 Impostor remains.  
**

"...huh?"

"Oh, whoops, wrong setting." A new voice spoke out, as Luigi plummeted onto the ground. The ground looked like the rooftop of Peach's Castle, except everything aside from that platform was in deep space. The figure then revealed itself. A pink-hair girl with a blue shirt and a pink dress. The most disturbing part?

Was that an.. eye connected to a string?! The eye gazed at Luigi, sending fear down his spine.

But regardless of his fear, he stepped forward. "Who are you, eh?! Are you the doofus who made me do that trial? Or was it Dore-meme? I gotta tell you! Having a maid as my companion? Three trials, relating to past-present-future? Boy, if my Yuuka incident wasn't a ripoff already, then this takes the cake!"

The girl sighed. "As usual, you ask who I am first thing. How very predictable of you, Luigi. You're so clingy to that incident."

"Oh, you know who I am?" Luigi smiled. "I'm honored."

"You..." The girl stared. "Have a lot of confidence. A surreal amount."

"I was feelin' depressed up until now, but now that I finally got to hear Mario say what I wanted to hear most, I feel a lot more confident!"

... The girl ignored his deep ego and introduced herself. "I'm Satori Komeiji."

"Oh, another dream goon who works for Doremy?"

"Well... technically? I'm Satori Komeiji, or to be more precise, her dream world counterpart."

"Eh?" Luigi blinked. "You're self-aware that you're in a dream?"

Satori nodded.

"...aaaand if you're aware of yourself in a dream... you can lucid dream and do anything you want?"

Satori nodded.

"...and you're gonna be a boss fight?"

Final nod.

Luigi sighed. "I don't know how that works. After all, this is MY dream."

"Does it matter? I'm going to fight you, and you're going to lose. I am infinitely more experienced in combat than you. AND you lack a Poltergust. What are you going to do? Cry and run away in fear again?"

Luigi put up his fists. "I won't run away any more. Let's-a-go!"


	19. Dread the Dead

"Hmmm..." Red Toad looked at the sleeping Luigi. "Didn't know it was still possible for a human to sleep for THIS long! It's amazing!"

Alice chuckled. "Well, the rain has relaxing sounds, it could help him fall asleep more deeply." She looked out the window. It was raining HARD out there, with a black sky and all. "I just hope it doesn't get any worse-"

A certain magician on her broom flew into the house. "Aliiiiice! Can I borrow a towel?"

"It got worse." Alice sighed. "Marisa, this is the fifth towel you've borrowed... And none of them returned."

"Aaah, no need to be rude about it, ze!" Marisa already went off to grab a towel. "I know you like my company anyway!" She then blinked to notice everyone else in the room. "Ah... Alice, are you havin' a party, ze? Without inviting me? The audacity..."

"It's not a party, it's a gathering!" Alice retorted. "And I never liked your company, I always end up losing something with you around."

"Yeah, well I lost my feelings! I'm heartbroken!" Marisa fake-cried. "In fact, I wanna take my anger out on the man who beat me up earlier, ze!" She turned to the sleeping Luigi.

"Really?" Alice deadpanned. "You're gonna hit a guy who's asleep?"

"..." Marisa paused. "N-not anymore."

E. Gadd chuckled. "Good! You have remorse!"

Marisa scratched her head. "So what's even happening here? How is everyone here and WHAT is going on?!"

Red Toad sighed and turned to E. Gadd, ready for the overly long explanation.

"So..."

* * *

Luigi thought deep in his mind.

Satori and her third eye both glared. "You know you're helpless without a Poltergust, right?"

"Not this time!" Luigi smiled as a bunch of clones of Luigi showed up. "Time to get Luiginary!"

The clones kept spawning in the masses until they formed a giant hammer.

"WHAT-" Satori looked up. Even her mind reading abilities could not predict this as they came down HARD on her.

BONK!

Satori groaned, rubbing her head. "That has to be cheating in some way..."

Luigi already formed a green fireball in his hand. "Don't underestimate me. You're in MY dream."

Satori dusted herself off, glaring at Luigi. "You're awfully confident. The second trial will be sure to crumble you."

Luigi simply shrugged. "I dunno, the first trial only confirmed that my brother loves me. And it shattered my delusions."

Satori charged a danmaku pattern. Luigi saw this and dived to the left, only for Satori to immediately throw the danmaku left.

The bullets hit Luigi, grazing him and of course, brutally wounding him. "OUCH! How did you-?!"

The third eye came eye to eye with Luigi as he practically winced in fear.

His teeth chattered due to his hairs raising, causing goosebumps.

"ZOINKS! Wait, wrong catchphrase!" He mixed up catchphrases due to being in fear.

"Now you die." Satori charged straight at him.

* * *

Red Toad felt a gut feeling. He looked at the sleeping Luigi. "Guys, I get the feeling something is INCREDIBLY wrong!"

Blue Toad also looked at Luigi. "You get that feeling too?"

Red Toad nodded.

Alice blinked. She turned to Marisa. "I didn't get it... did you?"

"Nope! And I usually get them all the time, ze!"

"..." Alice deadpanned. "Maybe you're always hungry."

"Whattya take me for? A explosion mage who eats breadcrumbs?"

E. Gadd was typing some code in his Wii Boo. "Strange how only the Toads get it and not anyone else... I'm not getting this 'gut feeling'!"

Red Toad then went to the front door. "Has the rain stopped? I'm gonna go check!"

He gently opened the door, only to find a red-hair girl in a black T-shirt and a planet hat staring right at him.

...

Red Toad slowly closed the door again.

Blue Toad looked at his red self. "Well? Is it over?"

"...No... But I found this weird planet girl though!"

...

Red Toad felt the GLARES of Marisa and Alice. They were both in massive shock. Both completely out of character for them.

"...what?" He looked confused. "Is that bad? Is SHE bad?"

They both nodded. Very slowly. Alice decided to clear the room of any doubts.

"Uh, yeah, that planet girl is actually the goddess of Hell... And yes, she is very bad..." She was shivering. "Why is she outside MY house...?!"

"Because I wanted to be?"

Then EVERYONE shivered. Everyone turned to the source of the voice to find Hecatia staring right at Red Toad.

"AH!" Red Toad jumped back.

Blue Toad hid behind E. Gadd, with the professor's face also being in fear. "Who ARE you?!"

The girl did a cutesy bow, showing her sinister face. "Hecatia Lapislazuli. But please, call me Hecatia."

"Excuse me." E. Gadd finally got confident. "I have some questions, oh Goddess of Hell. What is Gensokyo? Where is it located? How is this entire forest thing only part of a region? Why is it a Japanese theme instead of a typical medieval theme where all other Isekais take place? And tell me who does what with the magical girls? Is there a Goddess of Heaven? Does Heaven exist here? Why is Luigi able to open up dream portals out of nowhere? Why are most of the girls here blonde? Why does barely anyone have a shower? Do girls in this world even stink? Why does a 'kappa' have a giant lab while I'm stuck with my portable hut? Does any girl here even have a working TV? What would Mario say?"

Red Toad finally processed all this information. "All toasters toast toast?"

"...But the big question is, why are you here?"

Hecatia blinked. Slowly gathering all of that questions in. "I'm afraid I cannot answer any of them, as I'm only here to see this man named Luigi."

Blue Toad started getting defensive. "Nuh-uh! He's sleeping right now! Best you come back later!"

E. Gadd shrugged. "Even if she did, I'm sure the two blondes here can stop her."

...Everyone except the Toads looked at E. Gadd.

"...she's the most powerful character, isn't she?"

The girls nodded.

The professor sighed. Hecatia floated on over (because she's too cool to walk) to Luigi. She looked at his sleeping face. She smiled. "So, he is the one, huh?"

"The one?" Everyone asked at once.

"The one that my new partner asked if he existed here."

E. Gadd got a chill for some reason. "New partner?"

"Mhm. New partner. And that partner had a plan for Luigi! I've been asked not to show any spoilers for the plan though."

She loomed over Luigi. Alice and E. Gadd were twiddling their fingers in sheer nervousness.

"Heh." Hecatia smirked. "What an innocent baby face, despite having a humongous nose and a mustache. What is he doing anyway? Sleeping peacefully despite how aggro some of the girls get?"

Red Toad decided to answer. "He's in the Dream World, so you can't really talk to him!"

The goddess winked at Red Toad. "I can always wait until he wakes up... buuuut!" She raised a finger. "I already got all the information I have! Now I just have to tell my partner!"

Blue Toad raised his hand. "You haven't even told us your intentions!"

She flew up right to Blue Toad's face. The latter being in absolute fear. "Oh, believe me." She narrowed her eyes with a devilish grin. "If I DID spoil my intentions, you'd be living your life in fear."

And with a single blink of everyone at the same time, Hecatia was gone.

E. Gadd looked at his trembling hands. "I have a feeling something massively bad is gonna happen... to Luigi, specifically."

Everyone gulped.

* * *

Luigi jumped onto a piece of rubble, the battlefield platform being absolutely destroyed. He balanced on it because gravity was... weird. He looked at the floating Satori.

She and her third eye both glared. "Ugh, you're so annoying." She flicked her hair. "Regardless, the first two trials aren't even about fighting. The third trial is the fight scene."

"Oooh, that makes sense." Luigi nodded.

"No it doesn't?"

"No it doesn't."

Luigi finally leaped off one of the platforms, summoning a dreamy hammer. "This trial is over anyway!"

He hammered Satori, who disappeared in a dreamy smoke cloud.

The world around him got warped and distorted again.

* * *

Luigi 'woke up' in the grass field again, the only occupant being Mugetsu. Well, not really. When Luigi's eyes stopped being blurred, he saw another maid character. A maid with average-length blonde hair and a long red frilly maid dress. The maid apron was also longer.

Mugetsu and the other maid turned to Luigi, the one donned in red spoke first. "Oh, this is the one you were on about?"

"Yes, yes... Yumeko, this is Luigi."

"Yumeko?" Luigi turned his head.

Yumeko bowed like a proper maid. "Yep. I am Yumeko. The... Dream World version."

"Huh."

And then, at that moment, a certain girl in a long red hat came in. Doremy again. "So, ah... It was easy to get Mugetsu here because she lives in the dream world... But do you have ANY idea how hard it is to find a Dream World variant of a character who doesn't go outside that much anymore?!"

Yumeko simply averted her gaze. "I know, I haven't seen anyone in a while..."

Luigi raised an eyebrow at Doremy. "You act like these are like a separate species or somethin'."

"They are!" Doremy nodded. "We call them 'PC-98' characters!"

...Luigi felt something break. Probably the Fourth Wall, but eh, who cares. "Anyway. Doremy." Now that Luigi had caught Doremy's attention, he could confidently say something. "I passed your first trial."

...Doremy slowly clapped. "Whoo. Good for you. Now do the other two." She quickly disappeared in a poof of smoke.

He groaned. Mugetsu folded her arms. "Well, she is simply using us as comfort fodder, so..."

"Don't need it." Luigi raised his hand. "I don't want maid comfort pillows. The fake Mario in the first trial already comforted me."

Yumeko had a smug face. "Oh, awfully confident, are we?"

"Not confident. Quite scared, honestly." He spoke the truth. "I just wanna get this over with so I never have to see this Dream World again."

Yumeko just... simply nodded in response. "Very well. Go to the second trial, then."

...Luigi was already gone.

"Wow, he is really desperate!"

...And then Luigi was hit with... warm blankets?

* * *

**Second Trial next chapter.**


End file.
